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THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE 
PROPHETS AND JESUS 



THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE 
PEOPHETS AND JESUS 



BY 

CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D., Litt.D. 

WOOLSEY PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1917 



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COPYKIGHT, 1917, BY 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



Published April, 1917 



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PREFACE 

The discovery that the great prophets and founders of 
Judaism and Christianity were above all else social teachers 
and reformers is rapidly revolutionising the study of the Bible. 
The Hebrew prophets and Jesus speak to us to-day more di- 
rectly and convincingly than they did even to their contem- 
poraries, for we are far more keenly alive to the importance of 
the social problems which they were seeking to solve. To ap- 
preciate fully the social principles which they laid down it is 
necessary first to become acquainted with the personality of 
each of these prophets and with the immediate political and 
social conditions with which they were dealing. Studied in 
the light of their historical background, these teachings can 
then be readily interpreted into universal terms and used as a 
solvent for the social problems of to-day. 

The social teachings of the Bible are so deeply embedded in 
the Old and New Testament writings that they are not easily 
accessible to the general reader. Those of the prophets and of 
their practical interpreters, the priests and sages, have usually 
been treated separately from those of Jesus and his immediate 
followers. As a matter of fact, Jesus and Paul based their 
social teachings directly upon those of the earlier prophets. 
Without the final synthesis and interpretation which Jesus 
gave to these earlier teachings, they are disconnected and in- 
complete. To be clearly understood both the teachings of the 
prophets and those of Jesus and Paul must be studied together 
as parts of a genetic whole. The chief aims, therefore, of this 
volume are to single out the important social teachings of the 
Bible, to translate them into clear English, and then to classify 
and present them so that they may be intelligently studied in 
the light of their historical setting and development. The re- 



vi PREFACE 

suit is primarily a source book; for the modern reader and stu- 
dent desire first of all to know the exact form as well as content 
of these epoch-making teachings. The final aim is to interpret 
the principles which underlie them into modern language and 
thought. In realising these aims I owe much to pioneers like 
Professor Francis G. Peabody of Harvard and Dean Charles 
R. Brown of Yale, who have discovered this rich field, but I 
am especially indebted to Professor J. W. Jenks of New York 
University and Mr. Frederick J. Kingsbury of New Haven, who 
have offered many valuable suggestions as this volume has 
been taking form. 

These social principles represent the common ground on which 
conservative and radical, Protestant and Catholic, reformed 
Jew and progressive Mohammedan — in fact, every man who 
recognises the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man 
— can unite and work for the realisation of the ideals of the 
founders of their faith. These are the fundamental principles 
which the great prophets of Judaism and Christianity and of 
every vital religion supremely emphasised. In their eyes the 
petty differences which to-day divide the religious forces of the 
world were utterly unimportant. Deeds, not creeds, spirit, 
not forms, attitude, not professions, alone are essential. The 
social teachings of the prophets and Jesus, therefore, furnish 
the practical working basis on which the social and religious 
leaders of the world can co-operate in promoting and conserv- 
ing the highest material and spiritual interests of the human 
race. 

C. F. K 
Yale College, 

February, 1917. 



CONTENTS 

PART I— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE PRE-EXILIC 

PROPHETS 

PAGE 

I. Moses' Assertion of the Rights of the In- 
dustrially Oppressed 3 

The Social Significance of the Bible. — The Political and 
Economic Background of the Egyptian Oppression. — 
Ramses II's Policy of Oppression. — The Effects of Ramses 
II's Policy upon the Hebrews. — The Development of an 
Industrial Deliverer. — Moses' Vision in the Land of Midian. 
— The Social Problem. — Moses' Methods. — The Great 
Social and Economic Principles Illustrated by the Crisis in 
Egypt. — The Social Significance of the Deliverance of the 
Hebrews. 

II. The Democratic Principles for Which Ahijah 

and Elijah Contended 13 

Israel's Social Inheritance. — The Social Transformation in 
Israel's Early History. — The Long Conflict between the 
Hebrew Nomadic and the Canaanite Agricultural Ideals. — 
The Early Conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite 
Theories of the State. — The Ascendancy of the Canaanite 
Governmental Ideals under Solomon. — Solomon's Theory 
of Taxation. — The Popular Reassertion of Israel's Demo- 
cratic Ideals. — Elijah's Defense of the Rights of the In- 
dividual Citizen. — The Social Principles Established in Is- 
rael's Early History. 

III. The Social Teachings of the Early Prophetic 

Story-Tellers 26 

The Social Aim in Israel's Early Epic Narratives. — The 
Divroe Ideal for Human Society. — The Ultimate Basis of 
the Family. — The Unsocial Character and Effects of Sin. — 
The Making and Treatment of the Criminal. — The Survival 
of the Morally Fittest. — The Brotherhood of the Human 
Race. — The Significance of the Prophetic Portrait of Abra- 
ham. — The Socialising of the Unsocial Jacob. — Joseph, the 
Embodiment of the Agricultural Social Ideals. 

> vii 



viii CONTENTS 



IV. Amos's Interpretation of the Responsibilities 

of the Rich and Ruling Classes 39 

Social Transformations in Northern Israel. — The Political 
and Religious Situation. — The Making of a New Type of 
Social Reformer. — Amos's Methods of Social Reform. — 
Amos's Teaching Regarding the Duties of Rulers. — The Re- 
sponsibility of Judges. — The Responsibilities of the Rich. — 
The Universal Brotherhood of Man and Its Obligations. 



V. Hosea's Analysis of the Forces That Destroy 

and Upbuild Society 49 

The Personal Experience That Made Hosea a Social Teacher. 
— Hosea's Conception of the Obligations of Husbands and 
Wives. — The Effects of Social Immorality. — The Social 
Effects of Deceit and Robbery. — The Divine Lover. — 
Hosea's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. 



VI. The Social Ideals of the Statesman Isaiah.. 60 

The Social Conditions That Confronted Isaiahs — The Influ- 
ences That Made Isaiah a Prophet. — Isaiah's Denunciation 
of the Corrupt Rulers of Judah. — Isaiah's Denunciation of 
Judicial Injustice. — Land Monopoly. — The Economic Sig- 
nificance of Intemperance and Luxury. — Man's Attitude to- 
ward God. — The Rule or Kingdom of God. — Isaiah's Contri- 
butions to Israel's Social Ideals. 



VII. Micah the Tribune of the Common People. . 70 

Micah's Origin and Point of View. — Micah's Teachings Re- 
garding the Duties of Rulers. — The Responsibilities of 
Wealth. — The Duties of Those Intrusted with Public Edu- 
cation in Religion and' Morals. — The Results of Micah's 
Social Teaching. — The Prophetic Definition of Religious 
Responsibility. 



VIII. The Social Reformers of the Seventh Cen- 
tury 78 

The Decadent Seventh Century. — Nahum's Condemnation 
of War Prompted by Greed. — The Significance of the Re- 
actionary Reign of Manasseh. — The Reformer Prophet 
Zephaniah. — Jeremiah of Anathoth. — Their Teachings Re- 
garding the Duties of Rulers and Religious Leaders. — The 
Irresponsible, Unprincipled Rich. — The Aims of the Pro- 
phetic Reformers Who Prepared the Laws in Deuteronomy. 
— Formal Adoption of the New Prophetic Code. 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

IX. The Social Principles Embodied in the Pro- 
phetic Code of Deuteronomy 90 

Domestic Relations : Duties of [Husbands 'to Their Wives. 
— Duties of Parents to Children. — Duties of Children to 
Parents. — Duties of Masters to Slaves. — Political and Civil 
Regulations: Obligations of Rulers. — Duties of Judges. — 
Duties of "Witnesses. — Public Education in Religion and 
Morals. — Economic Regulations: The Ownership of Prop- 
erty. — Responsibilities of Employers of Labour. — Measures 
for the Prevention of Poverty. — Measures for the Alleviation 
of Poverty. — The Characteristics of the Social Citizen. — 
The Completeness of the Deuteronomic Social Code. 



PART II— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE EXILIC AND 
POST-EXILIC PROPHETS AND SAGES 

X. Israel's Mature Political Ideals 107 

Israel's New Outlook on Life. — The Social Significance of 
the Messianic Prophecies. — A Prayer in Behalf of a Benign 
Ruler. — The Portrait of the Prince of Peace. — The Ideal 
Ruler. — The Ideal State of the Future. 



XL The Growth of Israel's Missionary Attitude 

toward All Nations 117 

Influences That Enlarged Israel's Social Consciousness. — The 
Recognition of the Rights of Resident Aliens. — The Open 
Door to the Heathen World. — Israel's Mission to the 
Heathen. — The Universality of Jehovah's Rule. — The 
Psalmists' Vision of the Kingdom of God. — Israel's Realisa- 
tion of Its Missionary Ideal. 



XII. The Second Isaiah's Ideal of Social Service. . 127 

The Historical Background of the Second Isaiah. — The 
Prophet's Aims. — The Prophet's Interpretation of Israel's 
Destiny. — The Character of the Servant Whom Jehovah 
Needed to Realise His Purpose. — The Training of Jehovah's 
Loyal Servant. — The Task and Methods of Jehovah's Loyal 
Servant. — The Invincible Character of Voluntary Self- 
Sacriflce. — The Realisation of the Ideal of the Servant of 
Jehovah. — The Service That Is Alone Acceptable to Je- 
hovah. 



x CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XIII. The Social Teachings of the Wise. . . ; 141 

The Interest of the Wise in Social Questions. — The Rights 
and Duties of Husbands and Wives. — The Duties of Parents 
to Children. — The Duties of Children to Parents. — The 
Rights and Duties of Masters and Servants. — The Rights 
and Duties of Rulers and Citizens. — Man in His Legal Re- 
lations. — The Responsibilities and Use of Wealth. — The 
Evils and Prevention of Poverty. 



XIV. The Good Neighbour and Citizen According 

to the Wise 154 

The Characteristics That Make a Bad Neighbour and Citi- 
zen. — The Fundamental Social Virtues. — The Psalmists' 
Definition of the Qualifications of a Worthy Citizen. — The 
Culminating Old Testament Portrait of a Social Citizen. 

XV. The Social Philosophy of Hillel and John 

the Baptist 165 

The Century of Social Inertia. — The Social Reawakening 
Led by Hillel. — Hillel's Social Teachings. — Hillel's Stand- 
ards for the Socially Minded Citizen. — The Antecedents of 
John the Baptist. — The Social Standards Established by 
John. — John's Conception of the New Era That Was Dawn- 
ing. — John's Prediction of the Advent of a Greater Spiritual 
Reformer. — The Significance of John's Work. 



PART III— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS 



XVI. Jesus' Approach to the Social Problem 177 

The Master Builder of Nazareth. — The Evidences of Jesus' 
Interest in Social Questions. — The Record of Jesus' Social 
Teachings. — The Social Problems of Jesus' Day. — The Ex- 
periential Basis of Jesus' Social Teachings. — Jesus' Concep- 
tion of the Relation of Religion to Social Service. 



XVII. Jesus' Aims and Methods as a Social Teacher 186 

Jesus' Consciousness of a Social Mission. — Why Jesus Went 
to Capernaum. — Jesus' Work at Capernaum. — The Classes 
to Which Jesus Appealed. — Reasons Why Jesus' Social Ap- 
peal Was to the Individual. — Jesus' Way of Saving Men. — 
The Brotherhood Which Jesus Built Up at Capernaum. — 
The Breadth of Jesus' Social Plan. 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

XVIII. The Characteristics of the Christian 

Citizen 198 

Jesus' Estimate of the Value of Personality. — Jesus' 
Doctrine of Social Individualism. — The Importance of 
Developing a Complete Personality. — The Fundamental 
Importance of Socialised Thinking and Feeling. — The 
Ultimate Motive That Prompts Social Thinking and 
Feeling. — The Fundamental Social Virtues: Sincerity. 
— Charitable Judgment. — Forgiveness. — Love for En- 
emies. — Love for All Men. — The Attitude of Non-Re- 
sentment. — Jesus' Illustration of Social Citizenship. 

XIX. Jesus' Appreciation of the Social Values 

of Recreation and Popular Amusements 212 

Jesus' Own Enjoyment of Wholesome Recreation. — 
Jesus' Sense of Humour. — The Joyous Life of the Ca- 
pernaum Community. — Jesus' Commendation of All 
Forms of Wholesome Amusement. — Jesus' Condemna- 
tion of the So-Called Amusements That Are Harmful. — 
Jesus' Rejection of the Pharisaic Interpretation of the 
Sabbath. — Jesus' Example and Teachings Regarding 
the Larger Use of the Sabbath. — Jesus' Analysis of the 
Sources of Real Happiness. — Conclusions Regarding 
Jesus' Philosophy of Living. 

XX. Jesus 5 Economic Teachings 225 

Jesus' Interest in Economic Problems. — Jesus' General 
Attitude toward Wealth. — Jesus' Teachings Regarding 
the Perils of Wealth. — The Wrong Use of Wealth. — The 
Reasons Why the Mere Quest of Wealth Is Unsatisfy- , 
ing. — The Right Use of Wealth. — A Living Wage for 
All. — Relief of Poverty. — A Resume of Jesus' Economic 
Teachings. 

XXI. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Family... 241 

Jesus' Estimate of the Importance of the Family. — 
Jesus' Attitude toward Marriage. — Jesus' Attitude 
toward Divorce. — The Duties of Husbands to Wives. — 
The Duties of Children to Parents. — Jesus' Evaluation 
of the Industrially Dependent Classes in the Home. — 
Jesus' Solution of the Servant Problem. — Jesus' Con- 
ception of the Ideal Home. 

XXII. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the State 252 

The Political Situation in Jesus' Day. — Jesus' Point of 
Approach to Political Questions. — Jesus' Democracy. — 
The Rights and Duties of Rulers. — The Duties of Citi- 
zens to the State. — The Treatment of Criminals. — 
Jesus' Teachings Regarding War. 



xii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XXIII. The Rule or Kingdom of God 267 

Jesus' Use of the Term Kingdom of God. — Popular 
Jewish Conceptions of the Kingdom of God. — Jesus' 
Own Conception of the Rule or Kingdom of God. — The 
Two Corner-Stones of Jesus' Conception of the King- 
dom of God. — Entering the Kingdom of God. — The Re- 
lation of the Kingdom to Existing Society. — The Reali- 
sation of Jesus' Ideal of the Kingdom in Society. 



PART IV— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS' 
FOLLOWERS 

XXIV. The Social Life of the Early Christian 

Communities 283 

The Effect of Jesus' Death upon His Followers. — The 
Reasons Why Jesus' Followers Returned to Jerusalem 
after His Death. — The Personnel and Organisation of 
the Jerusalem Community. — The Spirit of Brotherhood 
in the Early Christian Communities. — The Economic 
Basis of the Early Christian Communities. 

XXV. Paul's Social and Economic Teachings 290 

Paul's Interest in Social Questions. — Marriage and Di- 
vorce. — The Mutual Responsibilities of Husbands and 
"Wives. — The Duties of Parents and Children. — The Re- 
sponsibilities of Masters and Servants. — The Value and 
Use of Wealth. 

XXVI. Paul's Ideal of Christian Citizenship 302 

Paul's Two Dominant Social Aims. — The Character- 
istics of a Christian Citizen. — The Crowning Virtues of 
the Social Citizen. — The Christian's Attitude toward 
Civil Authorities. — The Christian Citizen's Obligations 
to His Fellow Christians. — The Christian's Duty to 
Non-Christians and Enemies. — The Christian Common- 
wealth. 

XXVII. The Adoption of Jesus' Social Princi- 
ples During the First Christian Cen- 
tury 316 

The Spread of Jesus' Social Leaven. — The Duties 
of Wives and Husbands. — The Obligations of Chris- 
tian Servants. — Attitude of the Christian toward His 



CONTENTS 



xm 



Fellow Christians. — The Democracy of the Epistle of 
James. — Responsibility of Wealth. — Social Significance 
of the Apocalyptic Visions in the Book of Revelation. — 
The Christian Law of Love. — The Realisation of Jesus' 
Social Ideals in the Life of the Primitive Church. 



XXVIII. The Application of the Social Teachings 

of the Prophets and Jesus 327 

Christianity's Conquest of and by Rome. — The Effects 
of Christianity's Long Contest with Paganism. — The 
Trend toward Monasticism and Asceticism. — The The- 
ological Interpretation of Christianity. — The Rediscov- 
ery of the Social Teachings of the Bible. — The New 
Social Awakening. — The Programme of Socialism and 
That of the Prophets and Jesus. — A Comparison of the 
Methods of Socialism and Christianity. — The Social 
Leaven at Work in the Life of the Modern Man. — In 
the Life of the Family. — In the Business World. — In 
the Christian Church. — In National and International 
Relations. 

APPENDIX I. Selected Bibliography 343 

APPENDIX II. Subjects for Discussion and Inves- 
tigation 348 



CLASSIFIED INDEX 361 



PART I 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE PRE-EXILIC 

PROPHETS 



MOSES' ASSERTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE 
INDUSTRIALLY OPPRESSED 

The Social Significance of the Bible. Hitherto the Bible 
has been regarded primarily as a theological text-book. From 
its pages dogmatic theologians have drawn the proof -texts that 
have been made the foundations of many diverse creeds. But 
at last we are beginning to see that the Bible is far more than 
a theological treatise. Through its vivid records we still gain 
our clearest and most inspiring visions of the God revealed in 
the universe and in human history; but now we realise that 
its authors sought to do much more than to teach theology. 
Throughout its pages two dominant aims are clearly and con- 
stantly evident. The first is to make plain to men the ways in 
which they may enter into intimate acquaintance with God 
and find life and freedom in his loyal service. The second is to 
show them how they may live in right relations to their fellow 
men and by united effort develop a perfect social order in 
which each may find supreme happiness and complete self- 
expression. The one aim is in the largest sense religious, the 
other social. The Bible also makes forever clear the absolute 
unity of these two aims. 

Many different voices are heard in the Old and New Testa- 
ments, but clear above them all rise in full harmony those of 
the Hebrew prophets and Jesus and Paul. They were not vague 
dreamers but men of practical insight and outlook, who stood 
together on the higher planes of reality. Their interpretation 
of the great social problems which confront the individual and 
society are so clarifying and significant that no intelligent man 
or age can afford to disregard them. Wrought out and thor- 

3 



4 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS 

oughly tested in the laboratory of personal and national ex- 
perience, the religious and social principles which they set 
forth possess a unique and abiding value. The Bible also 
records the progressive development and formulation of these 
fundamental principles. From the very beginning of their 
national history the Hebrews were endowed with a rich social 
heritage derived from their nomadic ancestors. In the strenu- 
ous national crises which marked the enlargement of Israel's 
life and thought these inherited social ideals were reinterpreted 
and expanded by each succeeding prophet until they found 
their final and complete synthesis in the teachings of Jesus. 

In this critical, transitional age, when selfish greed and ma- 
terialism have nearly wrecked society, we are inexorably forced 
to the conclusion that the social principles of the prophets and 
Jesus are by far the most valuable assets that the past has be- 
queathed to us, for they furnish the only basis upon which 
an enduring civilisation can be reared. It is this fresh appreci- 
ation of the profoundly practical social idealism of the Bible 
that is gaining for it a new and pre-eminent place in the thought 
and interest of the present generation. 

The Political and Economic Background of the Egyptian 
Oppression. Chief among the many reasons why Israel of 
all the nations has proved the leading social teacher of the 
human race is the fact that its history opened with a titanic 
social struggle. Its founder was a prophet and social agitator. 
In the throes of a great industrial crisis the Hebrew nation 
was born. Political and economic conditions in the land of 
Egypt during the thirteenth century before Christ were the 
result of a long process of development. The land of the 
Nile is naturally isolated. Originally it was divided into a 
large number of small independent states. Only gradually 
were they united. The invasion of the Hyksos conquerors 
about the twentieth century before Christ led them in despera- 
tion to acknowledge the absolute authority of the kings of the 
Eighteenth (Theban) Dynasty. After a long struggle these 
rulers succeeded in expelling the invaders and in extending the 
boundaries of Egypt until they included Syria and Palestine. 



\ 



THE EGYPTIAN OPPRESSION 5 

The deliverance was purchased, however, at great cost to the 
common people. All political power and most of the wealth 
of the empire were gathered into the hands of a small ruling 
class. Under the succeeding Nineteenth Dynasty social con- 
ditions grew even more intolerable. The local nobility disap- 
peared and the kings became absolute despots, holding in their 
irresponsible hands all the vast resources of the empire and 
the lives of their subjects. A huge bureaucracy of minor of- 
ficials, who were the paid tools of the tyrant, in his name con- 
trolled all commerce and collected as high as twenty per cent 
tax on all products of the soil. For the individual citizen there 
was no redress nor escape from this economic as well as polit- 
ical thraldom. Upon the thousands of captives and foreigners 
then found in the land of Egypt this intolerable burden rested 
most heavily. 

Ramses IPs Policy of Oppression. Ramses II, the fourth 
king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, who reigned sixty-seven 
years (1292-1225 B.C.), was one of the greatest masters of in- 
dustry that has ever appeared in human history. He was a 
man of unbounded energy and gifted with a remarkable or- 
ganising ability. He was dominated by a colossal ambition 
to build memorials so many and so vast that they would make 
his reign forever glorious. The result is that the land of 
Egypt is to-day strewn from one end to the other with the 
evidences in crumbling stone of his overweening ambition. At 
Tanis in the delta is a huge granite monolith of the oppressor 
ninety feet high, weighing fully nine hundred tons. At Luxor 
(ancient Thebes) the ruins of the colonnaded hall of the great 
temple which he reared still surpass in size the largest build- 
ings of the ancient and modern world. These imposing re- 
mains, as well as contemporary records, reveal the spirit of the 
man. He planned far more than he could execute. Turning 
his back on the most sacred traditions of his race, he tore down 
famous temples and noble works of art and used the material 
for his own crude building enterprises. Erasing the names 
of those who had originally reared them, he inscribed his own 
name on scores of ancient monuments. He was equally ruth- 



6 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS 

less in his sacrifice of human life. All Egypt was put to work 
to satisfy his inordinate ambition. At the same time he was 
lavish in his gifts to the temples and in his public display of 
piety. Evidently he was eager to win for himself the approval 
of the gods and to blind his own subjects by the magnificence 
of his public benefactions. In every respect he was a perfect 
type of the unprincipled captain of industry; and, thanks to 
Egypt's malign inheritance, he was able to perfect an industrial 
system which in its inexorable effectiveness has never been 
surpassed. 

The Effects of Ramses IPs Policy upon the Hebrews. 
The nomads from Palestine, who, driven by famine, under the 
benign reign of an earlier Pharaoh had found refuge and later 
a permanent home in the pasture lands east of the Nile Delta, 
were but a small fraction of the horde of foreigners who in the 
days of Ramses II filled the land of Egypt. Earlier Egyptian 
records contain references to the Semitic shepherds who came 
to water their flocks at the pools of Pi thorn. Until the days of 
Ramses II the Wady Tumilat, which ran from the Nile delta 
eastward toward the wilderness, had been given up to shep- 
herds. Here the ancestors of the Hebrews had pastured their 
herds and flocks undisturbed except for the occasional visits 
of Egyptian tax collectors. In this favorable environment 
their numbers rapidly increased. Ramses II, however, was 
eager to develop the agricultural resources of the Wady Tumilat 
and to provide arsenals and granaries as a base for his cam- 
paigns in the neighbouring lands of Palestine and Syria. To 
effect this transformation and to build the store cities of Rameses 
and Pithom (Egyptian P- A turn = House of the god Atum), 
the Hebrews were drafted into the royal service. No people 
are more resentful of forced manual labor than the freedom- 
loving sons of the desert. But the unorganised Hebrew clans 
were helplessly caught in the meshes of Pharaoh's industrial 
system. Their "lives were made bitter with hard service in 
mortar and brick." As their numbers continued to increase 
and their resentment became more evident, their burden was 
made more crushing. With absolutely no prospect of escape, 



THE EFFECTS OF RAMSES IPS POLICY 7 

sullen, sodden, and hungry, these hopeless serfs were compelled 
under the lash to toil at the vast enterprises which completed 
their bondage. 

The Development of an Industrial Deliverer. Moses is 
the first man in human history with a well-developed social 
consciousness. He lived long before the days of exact Hebrew 
records; but his life is so simple and his work so significant that 
there is every reason to believe that the oldest traditions pre- 
served in Exodus are thoroughly reliable. Interpreted into 
modern language, they give a marvellous picture of the way 
in which Israel's first great prophet and industrial deliverer was 
trained. They also illustrate the pre-eminent importance of 
personality. Moses was in one sense a product of contempo- 
rary conditions and. of the forces at work in his race and age. 
In another and deeper sense he was the moulder of his race 
and of new social ideals for humanity. Each factor in his 
youthful training was essential to his final work. His birth 
and upbringing as a child aligned him with his race. His 
later culture gave him a larger outlook and enabled him to 
understand the baffling social and economic problems which he 
sought to solve. The supreme crisis in his life came to him in 
his young manhood — the period when most prophets awaken 
to their mission. A cruel act of oppression suddenly aroused 
his loyalty to his kinsmen and so stirred his social conscious- 
ness that he awoke to a vivid realisation of the injustice of 
Pharaoh's policy. Hot-headed and red-handed, he attacked it 
by slaying a cruel Egyptian taskmaster (Ex. 2 11 - 12 ). Painful 
experience soon taught him that violence never helps but 
always hurts a just cause. His act probably brought only 
added woe to his kinsmen. Even they misunderstood and 
openly resented his interference. The trouble was that his 
zeal was misdirected and his method was not constructive. 
But his impulsive act forever committed him to the mighty 
task of delivering his enthralled kinsmen (Ex. 2 13_15a ). 

Moses' Vision in the Land of Midian. Moses' violent 
assertion of his loyalty to his race and to the principles of jus- 
tice gave him a new perspective. His enervating contact with 



8 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS 

the ruling class in Egypt was suddenly broken, and he found 
himself a fugitive in that trackless wilderness from which the 
ancestors of his race had emerged. He quickly identified him- 
self with the freer, more democratic social life which flourished 
in those arid steppes and meagrely watered wadies. At their 
fountain source he drank in the social traditions of his race. 
In the calm, free atmosphere of the desert he saw more clearly 
by contrast the colossal injustice of the Egyptian industrial 
system. The great wrong, which he had in a pitiably inade- 
quate and unwise way attempted to right, still remained, and 
he could not forget it. Doubtless he listened eagerly to the 
stray bits of information regarding conditions in Egypt that 
sifted out into the wilderness. At last the news came that the 
great taskmaster, who for more than six decades had held the 
people of Egypt under his pitiless lash, was dead. 

The book of Exodus has preserved three distinct accounts 
of the way in which Moses received the divine call to take up 
his mighty task as an industrial deliverer. Each represents 
the bold attempt of early tradition to describe a profound 
spiritual experience. That they differ in details is not surpris- 
ing. It is the points in which they agree that are significant. 
The background of Moses' call is his intimate knowledge of 
the needs of his oppressed kinsmen and his burning zeal to de- 
liver them. The great outstanding fact in all the narratives 
is his vivid consciousness of Jehovah's presence and power. 
For the first time in human history Moses clearly realised that 
the God back of the universe is a God of justice and mercy 
who sympathises with the socially oppressed. Simply and 
directly the early Judean prophetic narrative states the truth 
which is the corner-stone of Israel's faith (Ex. 3 7, 8a ): 

Jehovah said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people 
that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry of anguish because of 
their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows; and I am come down 
to deliver them out of the power of the Egyptians/ 

It was this conviction, and not merely the knowledge of the 
changed political conditions in Egypt, that transformed the 



MOSES' VISION 9 

Hebrew fugitive into the intrepid and tactful champion of a 
seemingly impossible cause. The consciousness that God is 
the friend and deliverer of the oppressed not only made Moses 
a prophet but also guided him in all his subsequent heroic and 
successful endeavors in behalf of his people. 

The Social Problem. Human society has rarely presented 
a more baffling social problem than that which confronted 
Moses when he returned to Egypt. The system which was re- 
lentlessly crushing the bodies and souls of his kinsmen seemed 
to be impregnably intrenched. It was supported by the entire 
political, priestly, and military power of the empire. The 
spirit of his kinsmen had been crushed by their cruel burdens 
and at first they were suspicious of this prophet from the 
wilderness. Not the least of his tasks was to arouse this ig- 
norant, inert mass. As has been truly said, "Moses himself 
was doubtless still on the black list of the Egyptian secret 
service.' ' No champion of ancient story ever attempted a 
more heroic feat than did he when he stood up single-handed 
against Egypt's mighty industrial system. The only external 
factor in his favour was that the merciless tyrant, Ramses II, 
was dead and Egypt was beginning to feel acutely the weaken- 
ing effects of his rapacious policy. Unobserved, however, by 
king and people, mighty physical, social, and economic laws 
were also lined up on the side of the intrepid prophet. The 
effects of their co-operation are graphically and character- 
istically recorded in the plague stories of Exodus. With the 
eye of faith the ancient story-tellers saw not the economic and 
natural forces but the God back of them all, and told their 
story accordingly. The contemporary Egyptian records re- 
veal still other forces at work: foreign invaders, civil war, and 
inefficient rulers were rapidly sapping the strength of the em- 
pire. 

Moses' Methods. The overshadowing figure in this crisis 
was Moses, for he was not only the champion of his oppressed 
kinsmen but also the herald of new social principles. In his 
youthful zeal he had tried to right a great social wrong by 
violence; but now he carefully avoided the use of force. For- 



10 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS 

tunately he was not gifted as an orator, and so did not depend 
upon fervid harangues. Instead he initiated a well -planned 
campaign. First he educated his fellow Israelites (Ex. 4 29 - 31 ): 

So Moses went and gathered together all the elders of the 
Israelites, and spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to 
him, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people 
believed; and when they heard that Jehovah had visited the Is- 
raelites, and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed low their 
heads in worship. 

Later, when conditions were favourable, he organised them 
for definite action. He also formulated the just demands of 
the oppressed industrial class which he represented and then 
personally presented them to the reigning Pharaoh. When 
these demands were refused he resorted to practical agitation. 
His frequent stormy interviews with the king were significant, 
because he was able thereby to impress the right of his cause 
and the social principles for which he contended upon his 
kinsmen and upon the people of Egypt. Having exhausted 
these methods, he depended upon patient, persistent waiting 
for the outworking of the social and economic laws through 
which the rule of God is manifested in the life of the world. In 
his thought, as in the minds of the early Hebrew story-tellers, 
Jehovah was the personal embodiment of all these laws. He 
was regarded as the immediate as well as the ultimate cause 
of all natural phenomena. The foreign invasions, the degener- 
acy of the reigning house, the anarchy, the resulting unhygienic 
conditions, the pestilences, and the sudden collapse of power, 
which about 1200 B.C. came in rapid succession upon the once 
rich and mighty Egyptian empire, were believed by the early 
Hebrew historians to be special miracles performed by Jehovah 
at the request of Moses in order to liberate their ancestors. 
There is every reason to believe, however, that God is the same 
to-day as yesterday, and that he then as now used natural and 
economic forces in accomplishing his purpose in human history. 
If so, this ancient industrial struggle possesses a unique inter- 
est and value for the modern industrial age. 



THE CRISIS IN EGYPT 11 

The Great Social and Economic Principles Illustrated by 
the Crisis in Egypt. The issue was so clearly drawn, the 
factors involved were so obvious, and the outcome was so de- 
cisive that the social and economic principles illustrated by this 
great industrial struggle stand out clear-cut and convincing. 
The first is that the union of great wealth and political power 
in the hands of one man or of a few men is fatal to the ultimate 
prosperity of a nation and to the welfare and happiness of its 
citizens. It is only through the united judgment and the 
loyal co-operation of a majority of the people that the economic 
and political powers of a nation can be wisely exercised. Cen- 
tralised in a few irresponsible hands, it is subject to personal 
caprice and ambition, as is dramatically illustrated by the reign 
of Ramses II. 

The second principle is that when men are unjustly herded 
together and pitilessly exploited, they inevitably breed con- 
tagion and pestilence as well as discontent and the spirit of 
insurrection. Furthermore, when the industrial workers are 
thus exploited, the masters of industry who are responsible for 
these evils in the end also inevitably feel the dire consequences. 
Into the royal palace in ancient Egypt the dread pestilence 
stalked, claiming as its own the heir to the throne. To-day 
from the congested tenement districts the germs of filth dis- 
eases and the more deadly moral contagions, without regard 
for social distinction, invade the homes of the rich and cul- 
tured. Furthermore, excessive wealth won by injustice in the 
end proves in itself a destructive nemesis. It was the vice 
and luxury begotten by wealth that ultimately destroyed the 
efficiency of the reigning Egyptian house and brought about 
its downfall. Human history is full of similar illustrations. 

Equally significant is the positive principle that is clearly il- 
lustrated by Moses' own experience: violence never avails in 
correcting industrial evils. The only true method is that of 
Moses: education and organisation of those industrially op- 
pressed; clear presentation of their claims and rights; patient, 
persistent agitation in order to educate public opinion; and 
efficient organisation to protect their interests. These are the 



12 MOSES* ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS 

methods which won in ancient Egypt in the twelfth century 
before Christ, and they alone will secure justice for the same 
classes to-day. 

The Social Significance of the Deliverance of the He- 
brews. The exodus from Egypt did far more for the Hebrews 
than merely deliver them from a galling industrial serfdom. 
It gave them a keen sense of national unity. It also afforded 
them an opportunity in the free life of the wilderness and in 
close contact with their nomadic kinsmen to develop the social 
institutions which they had inherited from their Semitic an- 
cestors. Here Moses was able to impress upon them the moral 
and social ideals which lie at the foundations of the laws which 
later generations formulated and attributed to him. 

The painful experiences of the Hebrews in Egypt taught 
them to hate political and industrial tyranny of every kind. 
Involuntarily, their sympathies were forever enlisted in behalf 
of the victims of social and industrial oppression. No other an- 
cient people showed such tender consideration for the slave, 
the resident alien, the widow, the orphan, and the hired laborer. 
Many of Israel's noblest philanthropic laws are reinforced by 
the formula (e. g., Dt. 5 15 , 24 22 ): 

Remember that thou wast .a slave in the land of Egypt, and 
that Jehovah thy God brought thee out from there by a mighty 
hand and an outstretched arm. 

Above all, this signal experience led the Hebrews to think 
of their Deity as a God full of sympathy for the afflicted and 
dependent and ever eager to champion their cause against 
cruel oppressors. It is this dominating social element in Is- 
rael's early religion that absolutely distinguishes it from all 
other primitive faiths. This unique social factor in their the- 
ology alone explains why the Hebrew prophets rejected the 
merely ceremonial and credal conceptions of religion and de- 
fined its obligations ever more clearly in terms of justice and 
mercy and love to all mankind. 



II 



THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES FOR WHICH 
AHIJAH AND ELIJAH CONTENDED 

Israel's Social Inheritance. The social ideals of Juda- 
ism and Christianity are the culmination of a long evolution- 
ary process. That evolution began centuries before the an- 
cestors of the Hebrews entered the land of Palestine. In the 
old nomadic life of the wilderness the primitive Semites wrought 
out a social creed which they embodied in their customs and 
institutions and rigorously guarded by taboos and religious 
sanctions. That creed was the result of an infinite number of 
social experiments. To a large extent its form was determined 
by their physical environment. It was the supreme fact in 
their life. It was so interwoven with religion that in their 
thought the two were indistinguishable. It was for them the 
foundation of all ethics; for personal morals apart from the 
obligation of the individual to the family or clan or tribe were 
then unknown. The individual survived only by virtue of 
his membership in this group. The group also could survive 
only through the loyalty of each member. Hence each man 
was under solemn obligation to give to it everything which he 
possessed: his thought, his labour, and, if need be, his life. If 
any one of the members of his clan or tribe was injured, he 
must avenge the wrong as he would had his own blood been 
shed. His social responsibilities were therefore his one constant 
concern. 

Within the ancient Hebrew clan or tribe the atmosphere was 
thoroughly democratic. All worked together for the common 
social group. All stood on a practical equality. All had a 
voice, either directly or through the heads of their families, in 
the councils of the clan or tribe. Such inequalities as existed 

13 



14 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

were chiefly the result of varying degrees of personal ability 
and service to the community. Even property appears to have 
been held in common. While the title to it was nominally 
held by the oldest member of the family or clan, in theory he 
simply acted as the trustee for the other members of the small 
social group. The Hebrews, therefore, began their national 
life with a well-developed social consciousness, with a thoroughly 
democratic conception of government and an almost socialistic 
theory of property. 

The Social Transformation in Israel's Early History. 
The transition from the nomadic to the agricultural stage was 
the most significant step in Israel's social history. Fortunately, 
owing to the peculiar physical character of Palestine, it was 
gradual. Also the Hebrews always had on their southern and 
eastern borders a nomadic population with which they were in 
closest touch. These conditions enabled them to carry over 
and adjust their inherited social institutions to the settled 
agricultural life of Palestine. The family remained the primal 
social unit. The village and city took the place of the ancient 
clan; but the elders or heads of families remained the chief 
officials in the new social order. Under the crushing pressure 
of Philistine invasion the different Hebrew tribes were forced 
to yield their individual authority sufficiently to make united 
action under a common leader possible. Thus the Hebrew 
kingdom was established under the direction of Samuel and 
the leadership of the Benjamite Saul. This step corresponded 
closely to the action of the American colonies in the days of the 
Revolution. The result was not a kingdom, in the generally 
accepted sense, but rather a federation of colonies or tribes. 
The head of this confederacy was called a king, but he was 
from the first regarded simply as an influential tribal sheik. 
He and his successors were elected or, if nominated by the dying 
king, as in the case of Solomon, were accepted by the represen- 
tatives of the tribes. The tribes maintained their right to 
reject the nominee of the king and to elect another in his place. 
The Hebrew king was originally regarded simply as the ser- 
vant of the people. From the first the Hebrew commonwealth 



SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 15 

was more democratic than it was despotic. Of all the ancient 
democracies it was in the truest sense a rule of the people for 
the people and by the people. 

The Long Conflict between the Hebrew Nomadic and the 
Canaanite Agricultural Ideals. When the Hebrews entered 
Palestine they found its plains and valleys occupied by the 
highly developed agricultural Canaanites. At first the Hebrew 
tribesmen settled in the uplands. There they continued to live 
in tents and to retain their nomadic habits. As their numbers 
increased they began to mingle with the Canaanites. In the 
city of Shechem, for example, Hebrews and Canaanites lived 
together, intermarried, and apparently worshipped their an- 
cestral gods at the same temple, which was called Baal-or El- 
berith (Lord of the Covenant; cf. Judg. 9 4 ' 46 ). 

The rapid increase of the Hebrews in time alarmed the 
Canaanites, who united under Sisera, the leader of the con- 
federacy of cities that encircled the plains of Esdraelon, to hold 
them in subjection. Inspired by the prophetess Deborah and 
led by the warrior Barak, the Hebrew tribesmen of central 
Palestine rallied and defeated the Canaanites beside the river 
Kishon. This signal victory gave the Israelites control of cen- 
tral Canaan, but it did not eliminate the menace of Canaan- 
ite civilisation. A majority of the population of these central 
cities survived. Many of them intermarried with the Hebrews. 
Even such a patriotic leader as Gideon married a Canaanite 
wife. Gradually the Canaanites were reduced to serfdom, al- 
though in a few cities like Gibeon, Gezer, and Bethshean they 
constituted such an overwhelming proportion of the popula- 
tion that they continued in the ascendancy. Their civilisation 
from a material point of view was so far in advance of that of 
the Hebrews and so completely adapted to the needs of agri- 
cultural Canaan that the conquered race at once became the 
teacher of the conquerors. Having no local shrines and few 
religious ceremonies, the Hebrews largely adopted those of the 
Canaanites. As a result, from the moment that the Hebrews 
entered Canaan (about 1150 B.C.) until the Babylonian exile 
(586 B.C.) a persistent and deadly conflict raged between the 



16 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

nomadic Hebrew and the agricultural Canaanite conceptions 
of religion and government. Not only in the cities and seats 
of government but in the market-places and in private homes 
it smouldered and at times burst into a fierce flame. Although 
modified in many respects, the Hebrew ideals and institutions 
in the end emerged victorious. What is equally significant, 
the Hebrews treasured them and clung to them with a tenacity 
which would have been impossible had they not struggled and 
fought for them through six stirring centuries. 

No two civilisations were ever more violently antithetic than 
those of the Hebrews and Canaanites. The conflict centred 
first about their religious beliefs. The Hebrews believed in one 
patron God of their race; the Canaanites in many local deities. 
The Hebrew God was conceived of as a male Deity; the 
Canaanite pantheon included both male and female deities, 
and sex dualism was one of its fundamental tenets. The 
Hebrews believed that their God was a moral Deity, while the 
gods of Canaanite mythology were grossly immoral. The re- 
sult was that, while the Hebrews maintained lofty ideals of 
social purity, the Canaanites regarded many acts of social im- 
morality as marks of piety. 

The Early Conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite 
Theories of the State. The age-long contest between the demo- 
cratic and despotic ideals of government was hotly waged in 
ancient Israel as early as the pioneer period of the settlement. 
The Hebrew theory was that the state, like the early clan or 
tribe, was an aggregation of individuals voluntarily associated 
together for the purpose of protecting the interests and further- 
ing the welfare of all members of the social group. The rulers 
were the servants of the people, chosen by them to represent 
and led the nation and to guard the interests of each individual 
citizen. As in the ancient tribe, every man had a voice in the 
public councils; all stood on a practical equality. The Canaan- 
ite theory was that the state is an aggregation of individuals 
who yield their rights to an absolute and irresponsible ruler in 
return for the protection which he or his ancestors were sup- 
posed to give to the social group. The ruler is the practical 



CONFLICTING THEORIES OF THE STATE 17 

owner of his subjects and is therefore free at will and for his 
own purposes to command their wealth and services. 

The earliest conflict between these two opposing theories came 
immediately after the death of the first local Hebrew king, 
Gideon of Ophrah. One of his sons, Abimelech, had through 
his Canaanite mother inherited the ideals of that race. As re- 
corded in Judges 9, on the death of Gideon he went to his 
Canaanite kinsmen at Shechem and persuaded them to sup- 
port him in an attempt to establish an autocracy in place of 
the little Hebrew democracy which his father had founded. 
His first step was to slay all the members of his family who 
might legally dispute his claims. The popular address of the 
one brother who escaped clearly voices the Hebrew democratic 
ideals which Abimelech trampled under foot. It assumes the 
free choice of a ruler by the people and that his task is to serve 
his subjects. It also implies that even in that early age the 
strongest men in the community were not always responsive to 
the call to public service (Judg. 9 7b - 15 ): 

And Jotham went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and 
shouted at the top of his voice, and said to them, 'Hearken to me, 
you men of Shechem, that God may hearken to you. Once upon 
a time the trees went forth to anoint a king over them. And 
they said to the olive-tree, "Reign over us." But the olive-tree 
said to them, "Shall I leave off my fatness, with which by me 
gods and man are honoured, and go to hold sway over the trees?" 
Then the trees said to the fig-tree, "You come and reign over 
us." But the fig-tree said to them, "Shall I stop my sweetness, 
and my bountiful crop, and go to hold sway over the trees?" 
The trees then said to the vine, "You come and reign over us." 
But the vine said to them, "Shall I leave my new wine, which 
gladdens gods and men, and go to hold sway over the trees ? " Then 
all the trees said to the bramble, "You come and reign over us." 
And the bramble said to the trees, "If in good faith you anoint me 
king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, 
let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." ' 

Abimelech, indeed, proved a nettle to the people of central 
Palestine. For three years he ruled as a tyrant, and then the 



18 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

Shechemites who had supported him rebelled and vainly tried 
to throw off his onerous yoke. Upon not only the men who re- 
belled but also upon the women as well he wreaked a bloody 
vengeance. When finally he was struck down by a millstone 
thrown by a woman, the Hebrews gave devout thanks for 
deliverance from the rule of this incarnation of the despotic 
Canaanite ideal of government. 

The Ascendancy of the Canaanite Governmental Ideals 
under Solomon. Saul and David, the first two kings of the 
united Hebrew commonwealth, proved faithful to the ideals 
of their race. Saul preserved the democratic simplicity of a 
tribal sheik. He held court under the tamarisk-tree that stood 
in his native town of Gibeah (I Sam. 22 6 ) . Faithfully he strove 
to serve his people and in the end gave his life in their behalf. 
David held the hearts of the Israelites as long as he was loyal 
to their democratic ideas of government. His power with 
them rapidly waned when, as in his treatment of Uriah, he as- 
sumed certain of the prerogatives of an Oriental despot, so that 
even his own tribe, Judah, was ready to depose him (II Sam. 
15). In the main, however, he remained a loyal servant of 
the people and strove to guard the rights of all his subjects. 
This fact alone explains the large place that he held in the es- 
teem of succeeding generations. His son Solomon, however, 
made the supreme mistake of abandoning the governmental 
and economic traditions of his race for those of the Canaanites. 
The explanation is to be found partly in the ambitious, un- 
scrupulous character of his mother Bathsheba, whose first 
husband was a Hittite and who may have had foreign blood in 
her veins. The biblical writers also trace it to the influence of 
his foreign marriages (I Kgs. II 1 - 4 ). The despotic Canaanite 
theory of government suited well his own inordinate ambition 
for display and magnificence. That he deliberately adopted 
it is shown by the ruthless way in which he removed by the 
sword and by banishment all of the older and more powerful 
officials of his realm who might oppose him, by his choice of 
officials who were merely his tools, by his erection of fortresses 
at strategic points so that he was able quickly to put down any 



CANAANITE IDEALS UNDER SOLOMON 19 

rebellion, by the vast sums that he spent in his palace and in 
the strengthening of the fortifications at Jerusalem, and by the 
exacting system of forced labour and taxation that he imposed 
upon his people. Under his reign his subjects were helpless 
against these royal aggressions on their liberties. Public re- 
sentment smouldered. Only once is it recorded that it burst 
into a flame. The insurrection was led by Jeroboam, a labour 
leader, who had risen from the ranks (I Kgs. II 26, 40 ). It was 
quickly suppressed, however, and Jeroboam fled to Egypt, 
where he remained until he was recalled to become king of 
Northern Israel. 

Solomon's Theory of Taxation. In keeping with Israel's 
democratic theories of government, Gideon and Saul and David 
had apparently maintained their rule by voluntary gifts of the 
people, by the spoils won through foreign conquest, and by 
the tribute received from conquered peoples. These sources 
of revenue did not satisfy Solomon's unreasonable needs. 
Adopting the Canaanite and Egyptian theory that the land 
and people belong to the king, he proceeded to introduce the 
forms of taxation in force in those despotic states. His first 
step was to impose forced labour on the non-Hebrew popula- 
tion (I Kgs. 9 15 - 20 ' 21 ): 

This is the way it was with the levy which King Solomon 
raised: all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, 
the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of 
the Israelites, their children who were left after them in the land, 
whom the Israelites were not able utterly to destroy, — of them did 
Solomon raise a forced levy of bondmen, even to this day. 

Furthermore, he did not hesitate to impose the same burden 
upon the native Israelites (I Kgs. 5 13 " 16 ). 

In the warning which the later prophetic writers dramati- 
cally placed in the mouth of Samuel there is a vivid portrayal 
of the evils of Solomon's political and economic policy and of 
how it affected his subjects (I Sam. 8 11-17 ) : 

This will be the prerogative of the king who shall reign over 
you : he will take your sons and appoint them for himself over his 



20 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

chariots and horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; 
and he shall appoint them for himself as commanders of thousands 
and commanders of hundreds, and some to plough his ground and 
to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the 
furnishings for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to 
be perfumers and to be cooks and to be bakers. And of your 
fields and your vineyards and your oliveyards he will take the 
best and give them to his servants. And he will take the tithe 
of your grain fields and of your vineyards and give to his eunuchs 
and to his servants. And he will take your men-servants and your 
maid-servants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and 
use them for his work. He will take the tithe of your flocks; and 
you shall become his slaves. 

Here we have the later protest of a democratic Hebrew 
prophet against the tyrannical Oriental measures that Solomon 
imposed upon the free Israelites. First Kings 4 7> 22 » 23 » 27 > 28 de- 
scribes the system which he instituted in order to collect the 
provisions required for his elaborate court. In addition he 
monopolised Israel's commerce (I Kgs. 10 22> 28> 29 ). Ancient 
Egypt under Ramses II was apparently no more exploited than 
the Hebrew commonwealth under Solomon. He was justified 
in expecting definite support from the people sufficient to pro- 
mote the welfare of the state and of each citizen. With the 
development of his empire he required a larger income than did 
his predecessors. The injustice of his system of taxation lay 
in the false theory upon which it was based and in the tyran- 
nical and humiliating way in which it was collected. Forced 
labour was the mark of Oriental despotism. The amount 
raised also appears to have been disproportionate to the total 
wealth of his nation and to the living conditions of the Israel- 
ites. Above all, many of the objects for which the taxes were 
levied and expended were unjustifiable. The palace which 
Solomon reared at Jerusalem and the magnificence of his 
court stood in glaring contrast to the hardships that his sub- 
jects endured in the tents and hovels in which they lived. 
One prophet alone in all his realm dared lift his voice in pro- 
test, and that was Ahijah of the Ephraimite town of Shiloh. 



SOLOMON'S THEORY OF TAXATION 21 

Knowing the temper of the northern tribes, he encouraged 
Jeroboam to raise the standard of revolt and predicted that 
only Judah, the tribe from which the reigning dynasty had 
sprung, would continue to tolerate Solomon's disloyalty to 
Israel's most sacred traditions and ideals. 

The Popular Reassertion of Israel's Democratic Ideals. 
Solomon by armed force succeeded in holding his subjects un- 
der the lash; but at his death, as Ahijah predicted, the northern 
tribes immediately rose in protest. Their attitude was thor- 
oughly constitutional. Their acceptance of Rehoboam, Solo- 
mon's nominee as his successor, was necessary before he could 
be legally established as king. That they might not be coerced 
by the armed forces at Jerusalem, their representatives met at 
the northern city of Shechem and demanded that Rehoboam 
come to them. The concise narrative of I Kings 12 1-11 makes 
the issue exceedingly clear: 

And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to 
Shechem to make him king. And they said to Rehoboam, 'Your 
father made our yoke intolerable. Now therefore make the in- 
tolerable service of your father and the heavy yoke he laid upon 
us lighter, and we will serve you.' And he said to them, 'Go 
away for three days, then come again to me.' So the people went 
away. 

And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had 
stood before Solomon his father during his lifetime, saying, ' What 
answer do you advise me to give this people ? ' And they said to 
him, 'If now you will be a servant to this people, and will serve 
them, and give them a favourable answer, then they will be your 
servants forever/ 

But he rejected the counsel which the old men had given him, 
and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with 
him and had stood before him. And he said to them, 'What 
answer do you advise us to give to this people, who have spoken to 
me, saying, "Make the yoke that your father put upon us 
lighter ? " ' And the young men who had grown up with him said 
to him, 'Thus must you answer this people who have said to you, 
"Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for 
us"; thus must you say to them, "My little finger is thicker 



22 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

than my father's loins ! And now, whereas my father loaded you 
with a heavy yoke, I will make your yoke heavier; my father 
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges." ' 

The old men in Rehoboam's court voice most clearly the 
vital principles of every democratic government; the young 
men, who had been reared under Solomon's tyranny, the an% 
tithetic principles of Oriental despotism. Unfortunately for 
the house of David and the integrity of the Hebrew kingdom, 
the lure of despotic power proved irresistible to Rehoboam 
(I Kgs. 12 12 - 16 ): 

So when all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the 
king bade, saying, 'Come to me the third day/ the king answered 
the people harshly, and did not follow the counsel which the old 
men had given him, but spoke to them according to the counsel 
of the young men, saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, but 
I also will make your yoke still heavier; my father chastised you 
with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges.' So the king 
gave no heed to the people. 

And when all Israel saw that the king gave no heed to them, 
the people answered the king, saying, 

'What part have we in David? 
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. 
To your tents, O Israel. 
See now to thine own house, David I* 

So Israel departed to their tents. 

Thus at the old Canaanite town of Shechem, even at the 
cost of the integrity of the Hebrew empire, Israel's democratic 
ideals were dramatically reasserted. 

Elijah's Defense of the Rights of the Individual Citizen. 
Israel's history illustrates the fact that democracy is a posses- 
sion which can be preserved only by eternal vigilance. The 
people are the easy prey of selfish, unscrupulous rulers. Es- 
pecially was this true in the ancient Semitic world saturated 
with despotic ideas of government. Apparently Jeroboam I, 
who was called to the kingship by the northern tribes, guarded 



ELIJAH'S DEFENSE OF POPULAR RIGHTS 23 

faithfully the rights of the people. Later, during the second 
half of the ninth century, a military leader by the name of 
Omri was called to guide the destinies of the northern kingdom. 
He did for it in certain respects what David did for united 
Israel. His son Ahab successfully carried out his policy and 
in a series of battles freed Northern Israel from foreign invaders. 
To strengthen his position by alliance with his western neigh- 
bours, the commercial Phoenicians, he married Jezebel, the 
daughter of Ethbaal, an ex-priest of Baal who had assassinated 
the reigning king and mounted the Tyrian throne. Ahab was 
simply intent upon developing the rich material resources of 
his kingdom. He enjoyed the confidence and loyalty of a 
majority of his subjects; but like Solomon he was ambitious to 
build a magnificent palace (I Kgs. 22 39 ). In the hour of his 
success he also listened to the voice of his Tyrian queen, who 
had been reared in the school of Canaanite diplomacy. His 
disloyalty to Israel's well-established democratic ideals horrified 
his subjects. In the end it led to the overthrow of his family 
through a popular uprising. 

At first, however, the only one who appreciated the issue and 
dared openly defend the rights of the people against Ahab's 
aggressions was Elijah, the intrepid prophet from Gilead. He 
had been reared in the east-Jordan region, which lay near 
the desert and in closest touch with that nomadic life out of 
which the ancestors of the Hebrews had emerged five centuries 
before. On Mount Carmel he proved a valiant representative 
of the God of Moses and of Israel. There he succeeded in 
awakening the people to an appreciation of their infidelity in 
trying to remain loyal to Jehovah while paying homage to the 
Tyrian Baal, whose worship the crafty Jezebel had made popular 
in Israel. The incident which made clear the issue between 
Ahab and his subjects is graphically recounted in the familiar 
story of Naboth's vineyard. It brings out again in clearest 
relief the contrast between the Hebrew and Canaanite, the 
democratic and the despotic ideals of government (I Kgs. 
2ii-20a, 23) # Naboth, in refusing to sell his vineyard, stood 
squarely on the well-established right of every Hebrew citi- 



24 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 

zen. Ahab bowed before it, until Jezebel poisoned his mind 
with the Canaanite ideals of despotic government. When she 
tempted him with the fruits of judicial murder he was unable 
to resist. But through the voice of Elijah outraged public 
opinion found vigorous expression. Even Ahab quailed before 
it (IKgs. 21 27 ): 

Now when Ahab heard those words he tore his clothes and 
put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted; he also slept on sackcloth 
and went about quietly. 

Ahijah and Elijah stood on common ground. Each con- 
tended for the rights and liberties of the ordinary citizen. 
Each was the foe of tyranny and the misuse of political power. 
Both were valiant pioneers in that long army of prophets and 
patriots who through the ages have fought to secure justice 
and freedom for the weak as well as the strong. 

The Social Principles Established in Israel's Early His- 
tory. To the student of political science early Israel is a most 
instructive social laboratory. During these formative centuries 
many fundamental social principles were worked out in practi- 
cal experience, formulated by Israel's prophets and lawgivers, 
and enforced by popular action. The first principle is that the 
state is organised simply to promote the welfare of the social 
group and of each individual citizen. Rulers are the servants 
of the people and should be governed in all their public acts 
by the demands of public welfare. No ruler, in order to gratify 
his personal ambition, has the right to use his power to deprive 
even the humblest of his subjects of his freedom or of his 
rightful possessions. Any tax or levy required to promote the 
general welfare of the people may justly be imposed, and the 
individual citizens are under obligation to abide by the decree 
of their properly appointed rulers. But any tax levied for the 
mere satisfaction of a ruler or a ruling class without regard to 
the welfare of the people is a crime. When rulers fail to pro- 
mote the common welfare the citizens have the right to depose 
them and to take such measures as are necessary to protect 



ISRAEL'S EARLY SOCIAL PRINCIPLES 25 

the public interests. In other words, the ultimate source of 
all political authority rests with the people, and the safeguard- 
ing of their welfare and interests is the primary aim of all 
government. It is evident that not ancient Hellas but Pales- 
tine was the original home of true democracy. 



Ill 

THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE EARLY 
PROPHETIC STORY-TELLERS 

The Social Aim in Israel's Early Epic Narratives. The 
greatness and the zeal of Israel's early prophetic teachers are 
shown by the variety of the methods which they employed 
to impress their social ideals upon their race. Prophets like 
Ahijah and Elisha depended chiefly upon practical diplomacy. 
Some encouraged the people to embody their social ideals in 
definite laws. Others, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, reared up 
disciples who treasured their teachings and interpreted them 
to the people. In the days following Elijah there also arose, 
both in Northern Israel and in Judah, groups of prophets who 
utilised the stories that had come down by word of mouth 
from Israel's early past to illustrate the important social prin- 
ciples which they wished to make clear to their contemporaries. 
The advantages of this form of teaching are obvious. It at 
once attracts and holds the attention of the young as well as 
the old. The teachings are conveyed so interestingly and in- 
directly that all opposition is disarmed. Associated as they 
are with the popular heroes of the race, the principles thus 
concretely presented were readily and unconsciously accepted. 
Their epic character lends to them an irresistible charm. It 
is unimportant whether or not they are all exactly historical. 
They are true to life, and that is the chief essential from the 
social teacher's point of view. As types of real life, the hero 
stories of Genesis possess a universal quality which is lacking 
in many of the more distinctly historical narratives of the Old 
Testament. Exodus and the succeeding historical books illus- 
trate the broad political and economic principles that govern the 
nation and the larger social groups, while the stories of Genesis 

26 



THE EARLY EPIC NARRATIVES 27 

set forth social principles for the guidance of the individual in 
the home, in his relation to his neighbours, and in his attitude 
toward God. Hence these vivid narratives richly supplement 
the other social teachings of the prophets. In point of view as 
well as literary form they are closely related to the marvellous 
short stories with which Jesus illustrated his most important 
social teachings. 

The Divine Ideal for Human Society. The early Judean 
prophetic narrative in the Old Testament opens with the second 
half of the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis. The 
background of the story is the old Semitic tradition of the 
creation. In the Babylonian version the god Marduk created 
men that they might build temples for the abode of the gods; 
but the Hebrew prophetic version of the story interprets the 
divine purpose back of creation very differently. It is that 
man may have all that is essential for his best physical, moral, 
and social development. The God of the prophets was not so 
jealous of his prerogatives as he was eager to help man to at- 
tain his highest good. In the naive symbolism of the ancient 
story the tree of the knowledge of good and evil presents the 
temptation that is absolutely necessary if man is to develop 
moral strength (Gen. 2 8 - 9 « 16, 17 ): 

And Jehovah planted a garden in Eden far in the East, and 
placed there the man whom he had formed. And out of the 
ground Jehovah made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the 
sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of 
the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And 
Jehovah commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest eat freely, except of the tree of the knowledge 
of good and evil; from it thou shalt not eat, for in the day that 
thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die.' 

The Ultimate Basis of the Family. In the next section 
the prophet suggests the ultimate basis of the family relation. 
God is represented as experimenting. The experiment proved 
that for man's greatest happiness and fullest development he 
requires the companionship of his fellows and, above all* the 



28 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

intimate friendship and love of one of the opposite sex. Hence 
the family is the corner-stone of that perfect society which the 
Creator aims to establish in order that man's happiness and 
culture may be complete (Gen. 2 18 * 24 ): 

Then said Jehovah, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; 
I will make a helper suited to him.' Therefore out of the ground 
Jehovah formed all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the 
heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call 
them; and whatever the man called each living creature that was 
its name. Thus the man gave names to all cattle and all the 
beasts of the field; but for the man himself there was found no 
helper suited to him. 

Then Jehovah caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, so 
that he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up its place 
with flesh. But the rib, which he had taken from the man, 
Jehovah fashioned into a woman and brought her to the man. 
Then said the man, 

'This, now, is bone of my bone 
And flesh of my flesh.' 

Therefore a man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his 
wife, so that they two become one flesh. 

The primitive tradition regarding the method of woman's 
creation may be rejected in the light of later scientific dis- 
covery; but here is the oldest and simplest and in its ultimate 
implications the most satisfactory statement of the theory 
underlying the institution of marriage ever set forth. It 
teaches that marriage is based upon the innate biological and 
social characteristics and needs of man and woman. It is, 
therefore, not only a human convention but also a divinely 
established institution. Hence, a man's obligation to remain 
with and true to his wife is more sacred and binding than even 
the great debt he owes to his parents. 

The Unsocial Character and Effects of Sin. The primary 
aim of the prophetic story of the temptation is to illustrate 
the origin, nature, and effects of sin. With remarkable skill 
the early prophet presents his teachings. The dialogue with 



UNSOCIAL CHARACTER OF SIN 29 

the serpent brings out the struggle in the mind of the woman 
and the fact that she was fully conscious of the higher prompt- 
ings of gratitude and loyalty (Gen. 3 lb - 5 ): 

And the serpent said to the woman, 'Hath God really said, 
"Ye shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" ' The woman 
replied to the serpent, 'From the fruit of all the trees of the gar- 
den we may eat; only of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
of the garden, God hath said, "Ye shall not eat from it, neither 
shall ye touch it, lest ye die." ' Then the serpent said to the 
woman, 'You shall not surely die; for God knoweth that in the 
day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like 
gods, knowing good and evil.' 

Deep down in her consciousness she knew that only by 
obedience and loyalty to her divine Friend could she best 
realise her highest possibilities. She sinned not because the 
serpent tempted her but because she yielded to the lower or 
more individualistic impulses: physical appetite, love of the 
beautiful, and the desire for knowledge. The prophet makes 
this point very clear (Gen. 3 6 ) : 

Now when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 
and attractive to the sight, and desirable to make one wise, she 
took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her 
and he ate. 

None of the impulses which determined the woman's act 
were bad in themselves. The man also was influenced by his 
love and loyalty toward his wife. She had eaten of the fruit; 
should he stand apart and leave her to share her fate alone? 
Milton has well interpreted his feeling: 

. . . From thy state 
Mine never shall be parted, 
Bliss or woe. 

The impulse to which he yielded was not base in itself. Each 
sinned because he did not respond to the higher impulse to be 



30 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

loyal to that Friend who was contributing all which divine 
love and wisdom could suggest to make their happiness and 
development perfect. Their sin consisted simply in their 
failure to follow that higher motive. The ancient story also 
graphically presents the unsocial effects of sin. It destroyed 
their peace of mind and their normal social adjustment. It 
transformed the hitherto happy and efficient man and woman 
into craven cowards who, in their panic to escape the re- 
sponsibility for their unsocial act, did not hesitate to lie and to 
drag down others (Gen. 3 7-13 ) : 

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew 
that they were naked; therefore they sewed fig-leaves together 
and made themselves girdles. But when they heard the sound 
of the footsteps of Jehovah, as he was walking in the garden in 
the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the 
presence of Jehovah among the trees of the garden. 

And Jehovah called to the man and said to him, 'Where art 
thou?' And he said, 'I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the 
garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.' 
Then he said, 'Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou 
eaten of the tree from which I commanded thee not to eat ? ' And 
the man said, 'The woman whom thou didst place beside me, she 
gave me from the tree and I ate.' When Jehovah said to the 
woman, 'What is this thou hast done?' The woman replied, 
'The serpent beguiled me and I ate.' 

The story also illustrates the fact that sin at once raises 
a barrier between the wrong-doer and the one whom he has 
wronged, whether it be God or an individual or society. In 
other words, it suddenly transforms the innocent man into a 
criminal, and all attempts on his part to excuse or palliate his 
crime but raises higher the wall that separates him from his 
fellows. The sentence visited upon the sinners in the story 
was not primarily a punishment: it was the only way — the 
way of pain and toil — by which the unsocial man and woman 
could be led to recognise their guilt and its fatal effects and 
thus regain the normal social point of view. But even these 
unrepentant criminals were not beyond the pale of divine love 



UNSOCIAL CHARACTER OF SIN 31 

and care, for the ancient story naively but significantly adds 
(Gen. 3 21 ): 

Jehovah made for the man and his wife tunics of skin, and 
clothed them. 

The Making and Treatment of the Criminal. The later 
story of Cain is closely related to the preceding. It analyses 
in greater detail the successive steps in the making of a crim- 
inal and contrasts the human and divine treatment of this 
hideous social excrescence. In its origin the story apparently 
represents an incident in the early history of the agricultural 
Canaanites and the nomadic Hebrews; but in its present 
form it is a chapter from the universal history of mankind. In 
the thought of the ancients prosperity and misfortune were 
ever regarded as evidence of divine approval and disapproval. 
The words of Jehovah in the ancient tragedy indicate that the 
reason why Cain's offering was not acceptable was not its char- 
acter but the mercenary motive which led him to present it. 
Cain is an elemental, undeveloped character. He, like every 
criminal, is still governed by the selfishly individualistic motives 
and ideals of childhood. He regards even religion as a means 
to a personal end. When he fails to attain this end his anger 
flames up. The kindly remonstrance and counsel even of Je- 
hovah himself only increase his anger, for he has not learned 
to rule over his baser impulses. No loyalty to God or man 
stirs within him to prompt noble action. The culmination of 
this pernicious tendency is a deliberate act of murder. The 
portrait throughout is consistent (Gen. 4 1 - 8 ) : 

Now in course of time it came to pass, that Cain brought some 
of the fruit of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. And Abel 
also brought some of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. 
And Jehovah looked favourably upon Abel and his offering; but 
for Cain and his offering he had no regard. 

Therefore Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. And 
Jehovah said to Cain, 

'Why art thou angry? 
And why is thy countenance fallen? 



32 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

If thou doest well, is there not acceptance? 
But if thou doest not well, 
Does not sin crouch at the door? 
And to thee shall be its desire, 
But thou shouldst rule over it/ 

Then Cain said to Abel his brother, 'Let us go into the field/ 
And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his 
brother and slew him. 

As in the story of the temptation, Jehovah gives Cain, the 
red-handed criminal, ample opportunity to confess his sin and 
re-establish right relations with society ; but there is not a spark 
of social consciousness within him. Instead, he repudiates all 
social responsibility. Hence, he must learn by bitter experi- 
ence the consequences of this false attitude toward society 
(Gen. 4 9 - 12 ): 

And when Jehovah said to Cain, 'Where is Abel, thy brother?' 
he said, 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' Then he said, 
'What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth 
to me from the ground. Now, therefore, cursed art thou; away 
from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy 
brother's blood from thy hand. Whenever thou tillest the ground, 
it shall no longer yield to thee its strength; a fugitive and wanderer 
shalt thou be on the earth/ 

Like his fellow criminals in all ages, Cain complains bitterly 
of the harshness of his fate; but there is in his words no sugges- 
tion that he recognises that punishment is deserved and is the 
direct result of his own unsocial acts (Gen. 4 13 » 14 ): 

Then Cain said to Jehovah, 'My punishment is greater than I 
can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the 
face of the ground, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall 
become a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth; and it will come 
to pass, that whoever finds me will slay me/ 

Ancient society had for this type of criminal but one method 
of treatment, and that was capital punishment. The relent- 



TREATMENT OF THE CRIMINAL 33 

less law of the old Semitic world was "an eye for an eye and a 
tooth for a tooth." He who shed man's blood had to atone 
for it with his own blood, unless he had the protection of his 
tribe. The tribal mark was, therefore, not a stigma but a 
symbol of protection. Human society had refused all such 
protection to a Cain; but Jehovah's method of treatment was 
different. He sent him forth alone into the desolate land of 
wandering to learn by hard experience the inevitable conse- 
quences of his wrongful act; but upon Cain he placed the 
tribal mark that was to preserve his life and open the door to 
his return to his fellows when once he was ready to atone for 
his past and live the life of a social citizen (Gen. 4 15 » 16a ): 

But Jehovah said to him, 

1 Not so ! if any one kill Cain, 
Vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold/ 

So Jehovah granted Cain a tribal mark, that any one finding 
him should not kill him. Thus Cain went out from the presence 
of Jehovah and dwelt in the land of Nod [Wandering]. 

Thus this ancient story suggests that better, diviner way of 
treating the criminal which makes punishment not an end but 
a means of redemption. Society must be protected from the 
attacks of the criminal. He also must be made to realise his 
responsibility for his unsocial acts, and others must be warned 
against committing similar crimes. But, above all, the crim- 
inal must be given a chance and be encouraged and taught by 
discipline and careful training to become again a loyal member 
of society. 

The Survival of the Morally Fittest. Many students of 
the Bible may have questioned why the strange old Semitic 
tradition of the flood found a place in Genesis. Its prologue 
contains the explanation: it was to illustrate a great social 
principle (Gen. 6 5 " 8 ' 14a , 7 1 ): 

When Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the 
earth, and that every purpose in the thoughts of his heart was 



34 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

only evil continually, it was a source of regret that he had made 
man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. Therefore 
Jehovah said, I will destroy from the face of the ground man 
whom I have created, for I regret that I have made mankind. 
But Noah found favour in the eyes of Jehovah. Therefore he said 
to Noah, 'Make thyself an ark of cypress wood/ . . . Then Je- 
hovah said to Noah, 'Enter thou and all thy house into the ark, 
for thee have I found righteous before me in this generation.' 

Here is a clear statement of the law of the survival of the 
morally fittest. Its background is the divine aim in creating 
man and the universe. It is the aim that is clearly stated in 
the second chapter of Genesis : to develop a perfect man and 
a perfect society. To the criminal Cain Jehovah gave an op- 
portunity for social redemption. But the ancient story of the 
flood teaches that, as succeeding generations failed to improve 
their opportunities and steadily grew more degenerate, the 
heart of the Eternal was sorely grieved, for he saw that his 
benign purpose was being thwarted. When the trend of hu- 
man civilisation was downward, the destruction of the morally 
unfit became necessary for the ultimate good of mankind. 
Thus the prophet goes back of the moral law to the underlying 
reasons. That this law is as definitely operative in human 
life as that of the survival of the physically fittest cannot be 
questioned. Each generation seems to present certain excep- 
tions; but history abounds in illustrations of the broad princi- 
ple: ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome in their later deca- 
dence, the France of Louis XIV, and the old Spanish Empire. 

The Brotherhood of the Human Race. In the tenth chap- 
ter of Genesis is found an unscientific and rather uninteresting 
table of the nations, No one could seriously claim for it 
great historical or ethnological value; but it contains an un- 
derlying social principle which mankind after many centuries 
is just beginning to grasp and apply. In the simplest and 
most direct way it teaches that all nations are bound together 
by common blood and are the creation of one common God. 
Each is an integral part of the great human family which is 
the all-embracing social unit. Thus the ancient group of tra- 



BROTHERHOOD OF THE HUMAN RACE 35 

ditions in Genesis 2-10 begins with the origin of the individ- 
ual family and ends with a broad fresco sketch of the entire 
human family. Underlying all these stories is the fundamen- 
tal social doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the brother- 
hood of man, which later prophets and Jesus made the guiding 
principle in their plans for the organisation and regulation of 
society. 

The Significance of the Prophetic Portrait of Abraham. 
Most of the social teachings of Genesis are negative. They 
illustrate unsocial qualities and their destructive effects. The 
Abraham and Joseph stories, however, are exceptions to this 
rule. Lot alone represents the unsocial citizen intent only on 
his own selfish interests. Abraham, as portrayed by the early 
prophetic historians, is the perfect embodiment of the highest 
nomadic social ideals. He is a devoted friend and servant 
of God and man, ever forgetful of his personal interests in his 
zeal to preserve peaceful relations with all mankind. Even 
to total strangers he shows the most delicate attentions that 
nomadic hospitality could suggest. His ambitions all centre 
about the future of his family or tribe. To realise these am- 
bitions he is ready to leave home and kinsmen and brave the 
unknown dangers of a foreign land. His supreme joy is the as- 
surance that his descendants will be many and rich and power- 
ful (Gen. 15). Even for his unsocial kinsman Lot he persist- 
ently intercedes. His every thought and act are prompted by 
a highly developed social consciousness. He is the tireless 
servant of the social group. His devotion to his family illu- 
mines the exquisite story of the sending of his faithful house- 
hold servant to secure a wife for his son Isaac (Gen. 24). The 
devotion and loyalty between master and servant here revealed 
are a priceless contribution to the world's social idealism. Al- 
ready Abraham had intrusted to this household servant his 
material wealth and the direction of all his domestic affairs. 
Now he sends him out hundreds of miles into the trackless 
desert with camels laden with his most precious possessions. 
Moreover, he commissions him to perform a task that not only 
called for supreme diplomacy but also determined the future 



36 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

prosperity of Abraham's family. The narrative clearly demon- 
strates that the devotion was not misplaced. Like Abraham, 
this nameless servant is one of the finest examples in literature 
of a socially minded citizen. He absolutely forgets his own 
comfort and interests in his eagerness to bring his mission to a 
successful issue. The story vividly illustrates what the rela- 
tion of master and servant means, if both are governed by the 
principles of justice, brotherhood, and loyalty to each other 
and to their common interests. 

The Socialising of the Unsocial Jacob. From the social 
point of view the early prophetic stories that gather about the 
names of Jacob and Esau, the traditional forefathers of the rival 
Israelites and Edomites, are exceedingly suggestive. Of the 
two, Esau is personally the more attractive, for he is good- 
natured, forgiving, and loves the great out-of-doors. But he 
lacks one quality that is absolutely essential in an efficient social 
citizen, and that is ambition. As is illustrated by the familiar 
story of the pottage, he cares more about satisfying his appetite 
at the moment than about the future of his race. Throughout 
life he remains an individualist and is, therefore, a negative 
quantity in the social equation. 

Jacob at first had many of Cain's characteristics. He was 
selfish, grasping, and had no regard for his brother's rights. In 
stealing the birthright by deception he manifested the traits of 
a criminal. But, as his life unfolds, the unsocial Jacob is gradu- 
ally transformed into a social citizen. Unlike Cain, he endured 
patiently the consequences of his own unsocial acts. Exile and 
heartless deception at the hands of the crafty Laban at last did 
their work. He learned his lessons in the harsh school of ex- 
perience. Moreover, there was a social element in his ambition. 
He did not think merely of his own personal interests, but con- 
sidered those of his descendants. The result is that the crafty, 
designing Jacob became in his later days a devoted father and 
a trustworthy member of society. 

The social and ethical principles illustrated by these realistic 
Jacob stories are as important as they are obvious: he who is 
governed by self-interest and seeks by deceit to get the better 



THE SOCIALISING OF JACOB 37 

of his fellows thereby surrounds himself with a social barrier 
and creates in his own mind a fearful and distrustful attitude 
toward society. This attitude is disastrous to his own best 
development and makes him the enemy rather than the friend 
of all with whom he associates. In the hard school of experience 
God is constantly seeking to train men so that even the most 
selfish and perverse may become useful citizens. If they have 
within them a spark of devotion to the social order and to the 
power which works for righteousness, it may be gradually 
blown into a flame until it becomes the dominant passion. 

Joseph, the Embodiment of the Agricultural Social Ideals. 
The story of Joseph is the biography of a thoroughly socialised 
citizen. As his father's favourite, he revealed while a boy cer- 
tain unsocial traits. If he had remained in Palestine he would 
probably have grown up egoistical and overbearing. The in- 
justice that he suffered at the hands of his brothers, painful 
though it was, gave him the training absolutely essential to 
his social development. 

The Joseph stories are too familiar and simple to require 
retelling or detailed interpretation. One of the important social 
principles that they illustrate is that cheerfulness, courage, 
and a spirit of helpfulness, even in the presence of adversity 
and personal wrong, are the sure foundations of individual and 
social success. Loyalty to God is the star which alone guides 
men through the temptations and misfortunes of life to the 
truest happiness and the largest service to society. Men and 
nations are constantly in quest of trained leaders, but he who 
would lead must first learn to serve. All men are eager to 
serve him who is intent simply upon serving others. The man 
who, like Joseph, is loyal to his family is the one to whom, as a 
rule, great public interests may be safely intrusted. Society 
in all ages is seeking for loyal, efficient servants, and upon them 
it is ready to heap the highest honours. He who continues to 
be considerate for all and loyal to his ill-favoured kinsmen in 
the hour of public success has passed the severest test to which 
the successful man of affairs is subjected. 

The place which the Joseph stories hold in the heart of hu- 



38 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

manity is not merely due to their unique literary charm. It is 
because they present a rounded picture of a perfectly developed 
social citizen, destined to win success and honour in any well- 
organised society. They are a fitting crown to the marvellous 
stories that the author of Genesis has gathered from the lips of 
Israel's early social teachers. 



IV 

AMOS'S INTERPRETATION OF THE RESPONSIBIL- 
ITIES OF THE RICH AND RULING CLASSES 

Social Transformations in Northern Israel. The long 
half -century that lay between the work of Elisha and Amos 
witnessed great social transformations in Northern Israel. 
About 642 B.C. the military commander Jehu at the instigation 
of Elisha cut down the degenerate house of Ahab. He then 
sought to strengthen his position on the throne of Northern 
Israel by paying tribute to Assyria. Israel's old foes, the Ara- 
means, however, for a quarter of a century overran and merci- 
lessly pillaged the east-Jordan region and sapped the resources 
of Jehu's kingdom. The middle-class Hebrew who went out to 
defend his home either died on the battle-field or returned weak- 
ened and impoverished. Early in the eighth century came a 
turn in the fortunes of war. Damascus was attacked and 
weakened by a strong rival in northern Syria. Northern Israel 
recovered its east-Jordan territory. The spoils of conquest 
poured into the treasury of Jehu's grandson Jehoash and en- 
riched his nobles and favourites. Peace enabled the nobles and 
richer classes in Israel to develop its naturally great resources. 
Commerce also brought to them rapidly increasing wealth, for 
across the broad valleys of Northern Israel ran the main trade 
routes which bore the rich products of Egypt and Babylonia, of 
Phoenicia and Arabia. During the first half of the eighth pre- 
Christian century Northern Israel ceased to be simply a nation 
of shepherds and farmers. Cities took the place of villages, 
and the fruits of commerce completed the sudden transforma- 
tion. The powerful nobles and richer classes transferred their 
homes to the capital or to the larger cities. Meantime the mid- 
dle class, as a result of the changing vicissitudes of war, had been 

39 



40 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

largely reduced to serfdom. Obliged to borrow of the rich 
nobles at exorbitant rates of interest, they had not only lost 
their mortgaged lands but their freedom. Heavy taxation and 
unjust decisions in the law-courts, over which the rich and 
ruling classes presided, had completed their enslavement. The 
love of luxury and display had rendered the rich rulers insen- 
sible to the sufferings of the poor, who were the victims of 
their greed and legalised injustice. To all external appearances 
Northern Israel was prosperous and powerful; but the major- 
ity of its citizens were sad and sodden, crushed by the small 
ruling class that wrongfully exploited them. Its social prob- 
lems were those of the modern city and of a developed commer- 
cial civilisation. Special class privilege, misuse of authority, 
unjust distribution of the burden of taxation, and the iniquitous 
exploitation of the masses are the evils which called forth the He- 
brew prophets of the eighth century. It is for this reason that 
their teachings, interpreted into universal terms, are as ap- 
plicable to-day as they were twenty-seven centuries ago. 

The Political and Religious Situation. The task of Amos 
and his fellow prophets was rendered doubly difficult by the 
fact that Northern Israel was then at the height of its na- 
tional prosperity. Victories and wealth were regarded as con- 
vincing proofs that the nation enjoyed in a unique degree Je- 
hovah's approval. The lavish gifts and elaborate ritual at the 
national sanctuary satisfied the national conscience and fur- 
nished the insecure basis for the prevailing optimism. This 
false confidence so blinded the eyes of Israel's leaders that they 
failed to appreciate the ominous significance of the steady ap- 
proach of the invincible Assyrian armies. Social injustice was 
strongly intrenched in temple as well as in palace. If the 
mighty giants of social oppression that stalked abroad in the 
land were to be slain, a greater than David was needed. Again 
it was a Judean shepherd who went out single-handed to chal- 
lenge the strong and deadly foes that threatened the peace and 
prosperity of Jehovah's people. 

The Making of a New Type of Social Reformer. Twelve 
miles south of Jerusalem, on the border-land between the stony 



MAKING OF A SOCIAL REFORMER 41 

green fields of Judah and the treeless, almost verdureless wilder- 
ness, stood the little town of Tekoa, the home of Amos. He is 
described as a shepherd who guarded flocks of sheep and goats 
such as may still be found among the rocky, rolling hills im- 
mediately north and east of Tekoa. At certain seasons of the 
year he appears to have found a slightly more lucrative occupa- 
tion in caring for and gathering the figs of the sycamores which 
in time of need furnished food for the poorer classes. His in- 
stincts and training, however, are distinctly those of a shep- 
herd. In this region where fear and the watching attitude are 
instinctive, he developed alertness and eyes keen to interpret 
signs of danger whether from prowling lion or Arab robber. 
In his constant watching over the defenseless sheep intrusted 
to his care he learned how to give the quick cry of alarm that 
was intended to warn the sheep and to summon the shepherds 
to their defense. In the quest for a market for the sheep and 
goats he probably often found his way to Jerusalem and es- 
pecially to Bethel, the rich royal sanctuary of Northern Israel. 
There from the lips of the traders and story-tellers he doubtless 
gained definite ideas of the larger world that lay outside Pales- 
tine, of Egypt with its mysteriously rising river, of the irresist- 
ible Assyrian armies, of their cruel methods of conquest, and of 
their steady onward sweep toward the Mediterranean. Possi- 
bly his interests had led him to visit certain of these distant 
countries. With the experienced eye of the shepherd he was 
quick to appreciate the ominous meaning of the advance of the 
merciless Assyrian lion. In imagination he could already hear 
its distant roar. All his shepherd instincts prompted him to 
warn the people of Northern Israel, the flock that lay directly 
in the path of this appalling foe. With consternation he dis- 
covered how ill-prepared they were to resist the coming attack. 
The more he studied with his experienced eye the social con- 
ditions in the northern kingdom, the more he was convinced 
that the calamity was coming not because Jehovah was unable 
to avert it but because Israel richly deserved it. And yet all 
his shepherd training made it impossible for him to stand by in 
silence while the Assyrian lion leaped upon its unsuspecting 



42 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

prey, instead, he clearly felt that his appreciation of the peril- 
ous situation was a divine commission to sound the cry of 
warning: 

Surely the Lord Jehovah doeth nothing, 
Unless he revealeth his purpose to his servants, the prophets. 
The lion has roared; who does not fear? 
- The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy? 

Thus he explained his presence at Bethel when his right to 
prophesy there was challenged. 

Amos's Methods of Social Reform. The social and moral 
conditions in Northern Israel compelled Amos to present his 
teachings largely in negative form. His prophetic addresses 
are filled with trenchant invective, stern denunciation, doom 
songs, and visions of coming destruction. They are character- 
ised by their clear and pitiless logic. Amos always went straight 
to the point, and yet in his opening address he shows marvellous 
tact. As he pronounced divine judgment upon the cruel acts 
of Israel's heathen foes, the Arameans, the Philistines, and the 
Ammonites, he not only gained an attentive hearing from a 
hostile audience but he also led his hearers to accept great social 
principles, which he compelled them by the sheer logic of fact 
and argument to apply to themselves. Thus he forced them 
to pronounce their own condemnation. It is evident, however, 
that beneath his stern exterior Amos carried a warm heart. 
His ultimate motive was not to condemn Israel but to save it 
from the terrible but well-deserved fate which awaited it. His 
positive social teachings are inferred rather than expressed. 
Sometimes, however, he strikes a strong constructive note 
which pierces the dark, lowering storm-clouds like a brilliant 
ray of sunshine (Am. 5 14 » 15 ): 

Seek good and not evil, 

That you may live; 

That this Jehovah, God of hosts, 

May be with you, as you have said. 

Hate evil and love good, 



AMOS'S METHODS 43 

And establish justice in the gate. 

Perhaps Jehovah will be gracious, 

The God of hosts to a remnant of Joseph. 

Amos's Teaching Regarding the Duties of Rulers. The 
earlier prophets like Moses and Elijah dealt with kings and 
were conscious of having the support of the majority of their 
nation. Amos arraigned the rich and ruling classes. The only 
support of which he was conscious was that of the God who 
sent him and the mute gratitude of the masses whose cause he 
championed. With supreme courage he confronted the lead- 
ing representatives of the classes which he arraigned and di- 
rected against them his sternest denunciation. He had evidently 
often sat beside the city gate and witnessed the proceedings 
of the Hebrew courts. His charge against Israel's rulers is 
expressed in distinctly legal terms. Jehovah is the plaintiff. 
With fine sarcasm even the heathen Philistines and Egyptians 
are called in as witnesses and judges (Am. 3 9, 10 ): 

Proclaim over the palaces in Ashdod, 

And over the palaces in the land of Egypt, 

'Gather upon the mountain of Samaria, 

And see the manifold tumults, 

And acts of oppression in its midst; 

For they know not how to do right, 

They are heaping up violence and oppression.' 

The positive principle underlying his stern arraignment is that 
the first duty of rulers is to protect jealously and valiantly the 
rights of the poor and defenseless. 

That which especially alarmed and aroused the hot indigna- 
tion of this shepherd of Tekoa was the groundless optimism and 
the absolute lack of responsibility that characterised the atti- 
tude of the rulers both of Judah and Israel. With fine sarcasm 
he characterises them (Am. 6 1, 3 ): 

Alas for those who are careless in Zion, 

And overconfident on the mountain of Samaria I 

Men of mark of the first of the nations, 



44 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

To whom the house of Israel resort 1 

They who would postpone the day of calamity, 

And yet have instituted a rule of violence. 

So vividly does he picture these misleaders of the nation that 
the very men themselves thus characterised must have turned 
with loathing from the disgraceful picture (Am. 6 4 " 8 ) : 

They who lie on ivory couches, 

And sprawl upon their divans, 

And eat lambs from the flock, 

And calves from out the stall; 

They drawl to the sound of the lyre, 

Like David, they devise for themselves instruments of song. 

They drink bowlfulls of wine, 

And anoint themselves with the finest of oil, 

But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph 1 

In these powerful lines Amos set before humanity a new 
social principle which the human race has been slow to appreci- 
ate and apply. It is that rulers who deliberately shut their 
eyes to national perils and continue to indulge their own selfish 
cravings for luxury and pleasure are traitors to their nation, 
for they are directly responsible for the ruin that will inevitably 
result from their neglect of duty. The officials whom Amos 
denounced were the corrupt, grafting politicians of his day who 
used public office as an opportunity for private plunder and 
who felt no pity for the helpless masses whom they were leading 
on to ruin. Amos was keenly aware of the appalling fact that 
the weak and innocent suffer alike for the crimes of the strong 
and guilty. With impassioned zeal he proclaims in the name 
of Jehovah the direful consequences of the guilt of Israel's 
rulers (Am. 6 7, 8b « »• °- e « llb - c ): 

'Therefore now they must go into exile at the head of the captives, 
And hushed shall be the revelry of the sprawlers/ 
It is the oracle of Jehovah, the God of hosts. 
Jehovah hath sworn by himself: 
'I abhor the pride of Jacob, 



THE DUTIES OF RULERS 45 

And his palaces I hate, 

Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it, 
And one shall smite the great house into atoms, 
And the small house into fragments/ 

The Responsibility of Judges. Like every true Hebrew 
prophet, Amos was zealous to preserve the purity of Israel's 
law-courts. He clearly saw that the perversion of this insti- 
tution was one of the most fertile causes of the economic en- 
slavement of the masses. Ancient Israel does not appear to 
have had a distinct class of judges. The elders and nobles of 
each town and city, the royal officials, and, as the supreme court 
of appeal, the king himself sat in judgment to decide all civil 
disputes. It is not strange, therefore, that when justice was 
intrusted to such rulers as Amos found in Northern Israel, 
the weak were trampled in the mire and the humble were en- 
slaved. Amos's words addressed to those who sit in judgment 
at the city gates stand as an eternal arraignment of all who, 
under the guise of authority and legality, pervert the cause of 
justice (Am. 5 7 ' 10 - 12 ): 

Alas, for those who turn judgment to wormwood, 

And cast righteousness to the ground, 

Who hate him that reproves in the gate, 

And abhor one that speaks uprightly ! 

Surely I know how many are your transgressions, 

And how great are your sins 1 

You persecutors of the righteous, takers of bribes ! 

Yea, the needy in the gate they thrust aside ! 

Responsibilities of the Rich. Riches in antiquity were or- 
dinarily regarded as an index of divine favour. The Oriental is 
inclined to bow slavishly before a rich man. Amos was the 
first teacher in Israel's history, if not in the history of human- 
ity, to raise his voice in indignant protest against wealth un- 
justly acquired. He recognised that riches gained by exploit- 
ing the poor and dependent are a deadly menace to society. 
His words indicate that all the evils of corrupt commercialism 
were rampant in the Northern Israel of his day (Am. 8 4-6 ): 



46 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, 

And oppress the poor of the earth, saying, 

'When shall the new moon pass that we may sell grain, 

And the sabbath that we may open the corn' — 

Making smaller the measure and enlarging the weight, 

And perverting the false balances — 

'And that we may sell the refuse of the corn!* 

With the remarkable thoroughness which characterised all 
his thinking, Amos traced the cruel exploitation of the defense- 
less masses back to its ultimate source; then with a blunt bold- 
ness which the situation amply justified he turned upon the wives 
of the nobles, who had left their country estates and were 
living lives of idle pleasure and luxury in the capital of Samaria, 
with this scathing condemnation (Am. 4 1-3 ) : 

Hear this word, 

You kine of Bashan, who dwell in the mountain of Samaria, 

Who oppress the poor and crush the needy, 

Who say to your husbands, 'Bring that we may drink.' 

The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness: 

'Behold, days are coming upon you, 

When you shall be taken away with hooks, even the last of you 

with fish-hooks, 
And through the breaches shall you go out, each woman straight 

before her.' 

The principle which he here states is universally applicable. 
Perilous, indeed, is the status of any society in which the women 
have stifled their natural impulses to alleviate pain and their 
feelings of pity for the unfortunate and are so completely gov- 
erned simply by their selfish animal appetites that they incite 
the men to deeds of heartless oppression. 

The Universal Brotherhood of Man and Its Obligations. 
Democracy and brotherhood are the two leading ideas that 
underlie all of Amos's social teachings. He was also the first 
prophet in Israel's history to state definitely that Jehovah is 
as active in the history of other nations as in that of Israel 
(Am. 9 7 ): 



THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN 47 

'Are ye not to me as the Cushites, 

O Israel ? ' is the oracle of Jehovah. 

'Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt, 

And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?' 

In this characteristically concrete way Amos declared the 
then revolutionary truth that Jehovah was not merely the 
God of Israel but of all the great family of nations. In his 
tactful but vigorous introduction he goes even farther. The 
grounds of his condemnation of Israel's heathen enemies, the 
Arameans, the Philistines, and the Ammonites (l 3, 16 ), is that 
in their treatment of their hated foes they have disregarded 
the universal laws of humanity. With splendid tact and effec- 
tiveness he places the Israelites on the same basis. "For 
three, yea, four transgressions of Israel, " as well as of Aram 
and Philistia and Moab, Jehovah's judgment is about to de- 
scend. Moreover, upon the thrice -guilty Israelites it was to 
fall the heaviest. Heathen and Hebrew alike are condemned 
because they had sinned against their social conscience and 
failed to treat even their foes with brotherly consideration. 
The Arameans are condemned "because they have threshed 
Gilead (i. e., the Israelites dwelling east of the Jordan and 
south of the Yarmuk) with threshing instruments of iron"; 
the Philistines "because they have carried away captive all 
the people to deliver them up as slaves to Edom"; the Am- 
monites "because they have ripped up the pregnant women 
of Gilead." The same dire judgment falls upon the men of 
Northern Israel (Am. 2 6d - 8 ), 

Because they sell the righteous for money, 

And the needy for a pair of shoes. 

Who trample on the head of the poor, 

And turn aside the way of the humble. 

And a man and his father go in to the same maid, 

And so profane my holy name; 

Upon garments taken in pledge they stretch themselves beside 

every altar, 
And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the 

house of their God. 



48 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS 

Cruelty to either friend or foe is the deadliest sin in Amos's 
decalogue. Justice, brotherly love, and kindness are the car- 
dinal virtues. Fidelity to the demands of justice and human 
brotherhood alone will, he declared, save men and classes and 
nations from the uncontrolled greed and hatred that inevitably 
involve them in utter ruin. Thus the clear-eyed prophet of 
Tekoa saw and proclaimed eternal principles which, if appreci- 
ated and applied in the market-place, in the public tribunals, 
in the councils of state, and in the parliament of nations, would 
long ago have inaugurated the era of universal peace and good 
will that is still the unrealised ideal of humanity. 



V 



HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF THE FORCES THAT 
DESTROY AND UPBUILD SOCIETY 

The Personal Experience That Made Hosea a Social 
Teacher. Within less than a decade, possibly the same year 
that Amos delivered his revolutionary address at Bethel, Ho- 
sea, the son of Beeri, began his work as a prophet. He spoke 
not as an outsider but as a native of Northern Israel. His 
home appears to have been in one of the villages of Gilead 
east of the Jordan. He was a man of deep and warm affec- 
tions. He was governed more by his strong emotions and 
profound intuitions than by cold logic. He reveals intimate 
familiarity at every point with Israel's traditions and institu- 
tions. He was well acquainted with the complex political sit- 
uation in southwestern Asia and the baffling problems which 
confronted the statesmen of Israel. As a devoted patriot he 
analysed the conditions in Northern Israel and set forth his 
convictions with a boldness and courage unsurpassed even by 
the shepherd-prophet from Tekoa. 

At first Hosea echoed Amos's stern, uncompromising message 
of doom. He dramatically proclaimed it in the names that he 
gave to his children. "Unpitied" and " Not-my-people " were 
strange names to give to a girl and boy; but they constantly 
reminded the people of Hosea' s declaration that Jehovah had 
rejected his people because of their persistent crimes. 

Fortunately, the prophet has made clear the way in which 
the great change came in his message and in his interpreta- 
tion of God's attitude toward his people. With breaking heart 
he tells how Gomer, the wife whom he loved and cherished, 
proved faithless and fled from his home to lead a life of in- 
famy. The tragedy of his family life revealed to the anguished 

49 



50 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES 

prophet the deadly effect of social immorality on the home 
and on society. He realised that not only "they who sow 
the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption," but that often the 
innocent, who love the sinner most, suffer most the torturing 
consequences of sin. In the laboratory of life Hosea discovered 
the social principles which make his prophecies in many ways 
the most original and revolutionising contribution to the phi- 
losophy of society that the Old Testament contains. He was 
Israel's great moral and social diagnostician because, as a result 
of his own painful experience, he learned to look upon life and 
human society through the eyes of love. 

Hosea' s Conception of the Obligations of Husbands and 
Wives. Hosea, not merely by his words but by his supreme 
act of devotion to his wife, Gomer, established a new stand- 
ard of marital responsibility. Like Cleopatra, in Shakespeare's 
immortal play, Gomer appears to have been simply an unde- 
veloped animal type. All the laws and customs of the old 
Semitic world gave Hosea full authority to divorce and forever 
banish from his home and heart his disloyal wife. Plainly he 
voices the initial impulse which prompted him to do so (Hos. 

22b, c, 4, 5a, b) . 

For she is not my wife, 

And I will not be her husband; 

And on her children I will have no pity, 

Since they are children of whoredom, 

For their mother has become a harlot, 

She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. 

Then the prophet tells of the diviner impulse that came to 
him and mastered his will. It was clearly the powerful love 
which he still felt for the woman who had so cruelly wronged 
him. In the later perspective of years he realised that this 
was, indeed, the voice of Jehovah within him saying (Hos. 3 1 ) : 

Still go, love [this] woman, 
Who loves a paramour and is an adulteress, 
As Jehovah loveth the Israelites, 
Although they turn to other gods. 



OBLIGATIONS OF HUSBANDS 51 

Even though Gomer had gone rapidly down the precipitous 
path of sin and had, it appears, been put up for sale by her 
paramour as a common slave, Hosea did not hesitate to pay the 
price for her liberation (Hos. 3 2, 3 ): 

So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and eight 
bushels of barley and a measure of barley. 

And I said to her: 

'Many days shall you abide for me, 

You shall not play the harlot, 

And you shall not be any man's wife, 

Yet I, on my part, will be yours/ 

In practice society has been slow to accept and apply the 
lofty principle which Hosea established eight centuries before 
the greater Teacher of Nazareth commanded his followers: 
"Do to others as you would have them do to you." Gomer's 
crime appears to have been entirely without palliation. Yet, 
by his treatment of her, Hosea taught that even though wives 
prove utterly unfaithful, their husbands are still under moral 
obligation to use every possible method to reclaim and restore 
them to a life of purity and fidelity. Moreover, all the logic 
of Hosea's teachings implies that if the faithless one through 
true penitence seeks forgiveness and strives to live a life of 
rectitude, she should have not only the protection but the 
love of her husband. At least Hosea taught in the most ef- 
fective way possible — namely, by personal example — that di- 
vorce is the remedy for the most heinous of social crimes only 
when kindly discipline and love have been tested to the ut- 
termost. 

The Effects of Social Immorality. Hosea lived in an age 
when the corrupt Canaanite cults had left a deep, foul stain 
upon Israel's social life. In opulent Northern Israel social 
immorality was everywhere rampant. Even the public sanc- 
tuaries were scenes of gross licentiousness. Wherever the old 
Canaanite customs prevailed virtue was sacrificed and the grat- 
ification of the lower passions was regarded as a religious act. 



52 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES 

Hosea was undoubtedly led to analyse these iniquities and 
to denounce them unsparingly because the hideous evil had 
laid its hand upon his own home and rendered it desolate. 
He was apparently the first man in human history to combat 
boldly the double standard which places the entire burden of 
guilt upon the fallen woman and lets the man go free. He 
maintained that not the maidens and the wives but their fathers 
and brothers were alone responsible (Hos. 4 12c_14 ): 

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, 

So that they have played the harlot from after their God. 

On the heights of the mountains they sacrifice, 

And on the hills they burn their offerings, 

Under oaks and poplars and terebinths, 

For their shade is pleasant ! 

Therefore your daughters play the harlot, 

And your brides commit adultery. 

I will not punish your daughters because they play the harlot, 

Nor your brides because they commit adultery, 

And sacrifice with consecrated prostitutes. 

Thus the stupid people come to ruin ! 

Hosea also declared that social immorality destroys the in- 
telligence and moral sense of those who indulge in it and that 
it means in the end the sterility of the race (Hos. 4 11 , 9 llb ) : 

Harlotry and sweet wine take away the understanding. 
There shall be no more birth, no more motherhood, no more con- 
ception. 

The Social Effects of Deceit and Robbery. None of the 
Hebrew prophets had a warmer heart than Hosea. None were 
more loyal to their race. None could love with a more passion- 
ate devotion. Indeed, it was because of his profound love for 
his people that he denounced the sins that were destroying them 
more bitterly than did any other prophet. He realised that 
so long as Israel continued to practise these crimes it was im- 
possible for even God himself to heal its social ills and to help it 
to realise its destiny (Hos. 4 1 " 3 ): 



SOCIAL EFFECTS OF DECEIT 53 

Hear the word of Jehovah, O Israelites, 

For Jehovah hath a charge against the inhabitants of the land; 

For there is no fidelity, nor true love, 

Nor knowledge of God in the land, 

But perjury, lying and murder, 

Stealing, committing adultery and deeds of violence, 

And acts of bloodshed follow in quick succession. 

Therefore the land mourns, 

And all its inhabitants languish, 

Together with the wild beasts and the birds of the heavens, 

While even the fish of the sea are swept away. 

By his use of strong hyperbole Hosea stressed the eternal 
truth that not only the happiness of the individual but also 
the welfare of the world were dependent upon men's moral 
and social integrity. In the light of his own tragic experience 
he saw that the only correctives for such heinous crimes as 
perjury, falsehood, and murder were a true love for God and 
men and an intelligent loyalty to the noble purpose which the 
Personality back of all history is seeking to realise in human 
society. In the passage just quoted there appears for the first 
time Hosea's most characteristic word, hesedh, which is trans- 
lated love, mercy, and loving-kindness. It is one of the strongest 
social terms in the Hebrew language. It describes a love which 
is expressed not in mere vague emotions but in definite acts of 
mercy and kindness. It is a type of love which was nobly 
exemplified in Hosea's treatment of his erring wife. It is the 
dominant emotion which Paul so gloriously describes in his 
immortal apostrophe to love in I Corinthians 13. In Hosea's 
searching analysis of the evils that are destroying Israel, per- 
jury and lying are the antitheses of fidelity and honesty. The 
supremely unsocial acts of murder, stealing, adultery, violence, 
and bloodshed are possible because men are not controlled by 
love. 

The Divine Lover. Hosea's greatest contribution to re- 
ligion and to the science of society is his teaching regarding 
God's relation to man. Here he analyses the ultimate motives 
that prompt right social thinking and living. With a boldness 



54 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES 

that has no parallel in pre-Christian literature he portrays Je- 
hovah as Israel's Lover. The form in which he first presented 
this revolutionary teaching was largely determined by his own 
personal experience. It is clear that his impulse to be merci- 
ful to his guilty wife opened his eyes to Jehovah's love for 
his disloyal people. The analogy is very close. Even as the 
prophet loved the youthful maiden Gomer, wooed and won 
her, so Jehovah first loved and wedded Israel. Like Gomer, 
Israel proved faithless, and yet the divine Lover never ceased 
to cherish the nation. The second chapter of Hosea contains 
a marvellous monologue in which the unswerving affection, the 
bitter anguish, and the ardent hope of the divine Lover are 
vividly revealed. It opens with impassioned words addressed 
to the people of Israel, who are entreated to reason with their 
mother the nation, Jehovah's wife, that she may be led to turn 
from her crime and thus avert the strenuous discipline to which 
her divine Lover must otherwise subject her (Hos. 2 2a « d « e « 3 ): 

Strive with your mother, strive, 

That she put her acts of whoredom from her sight, 

And her adulteries from between her breasts, 

Lest I strip her naked, 

And set her as she was on the day of her birth, 

And make her like the wilderness, 

And let her become like a parched land, 

And let her die of thirst. 

The children, however, are blinded by their baneful inheri- 
tance and Israel is still intent upon following the gods of fer- 
tility from which in her ignorance she thinks her prosperity 
comes. Hence the divine love can be expressed only in dis- 
cipline (Hos. 2 6 ' 7 , cf. 8 " 13 ): 

Therefore I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns, 

And build a wall about her, 

So that she cannot find her paths. 

And she will pursue her paramours, 

But will not overtake them, 

And she will seek and not find them. 



THE DIVINE LOVER 55 

Hosea fully realised and taught that in the divine economy 
punishment was never an end in itself but only a means to a 
higher end. In imagination he pictures the divine Lover as 
looking forward to the day when discipline shall have done its 
work and love could find perfect expression. No more stirring 
love-song can be found in the world's literature, for it voices 
the love of the divine Lover for human society (Hos. 2 14 - 20 ) : 

Therefore I am going to allure her, 

And bring her into the wilderness, 

And speak endearingly to her. 

And I will give her from there her vineyards, 

And the valley of Achor as a door of hope, 

And there she shall respond as in the days of her youth, 

As in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt. 

And it shall be in that day, is the oracle of Jehovah, 

She shall call to her husband, 

And shall call no more to the Baalim. 

And I will remove the name of the Baalim from her mouth, 

And they shall no more be mentioned by their names. 

And I will betroth her to me forever, 

Yea, I will betroth her to me in righteousness, 

And in judgment, and in kindness, and in mercy, 

Yea, I will betroth her to me in faithfulness, 

And she shall know Jehovah. 

In these impassioned words Hosea sets forth his central so- 
cial teaching. Righteousness, justice, kindness, love, and fidel- 
ity are the essential and only foundations on which an inti- 
mate and abiding relationship between God and mankind can 
be established. Hosea's figure describes that relationship as 
closer than even that between parent and child. When once 
it is firmly established the foundations of a perfect society and 
a perfect world will be laid. Being a prophet of agricultural 
Israel and a poet who loved nature, as revealed in the radiant 
beauty of fertile Palestine, Hosea pictures the ultimate social 
state in concrete terms drawn from the productive vineyards 
and the waving fields of Northern Israel. He addresses Israel 
by its ancient name Jezreel, whose meaning, God sows, was now 



56 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES 

a reminder not of Jehu's crime (Hos. I 4 ) but of the prosperity 
that awaited the nation whenever it merited Jehovah's favour 
(Hos. 2 21 - 23 ): 

And it shall come to pass in that day, 

That I will speak, — it is the oracle of Jehovah, — 

I will speak to the heavens, 

And they will speak to the earth. 

And the earth will speak to the grain, 

And the new wine and the oil; 

And they shall speak to Jezreel, 

And I will sow her in the land. 

And I will have pity upon the unpitied, 

And I will say to Not-my-people, 'Thou art my people/ 

And they will say, 'Thou art my God.' 

In a later passage Hosea apparently uses the figure of father 
in describing Jehovah's love for his people. While the trans- 
lation at certain points is doubtful, the meaning of the passage 
as a whole is clear. As in a mighty symphony, the two contrast- 
ing emotions of divine love and of human disloyalty struggle 
together in this wonderful monologue (Hos. II 1-5, 8 ' 9 ): 

When Israel was young, then I began to love him, 

And out of Egypt I called his sons. 

The more I called them, 

The further they went away from me. 

They kept sacrificing to Baalim, 

And making offerings to images. 

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, 

Taking them up in my arms; 

But they did not know that I healed them; 

With humane cords I ever drew them, 

With bands of love. 

And I was to them as one who lifts up the yoke from off their 

jaws, 
And bending toward him, I gave him food to eat. 

He must return to the land of Egypt, 

Or Assyria will be their king; 

For they have refused to return to me. 



THE DIVINE LOVER 57 

How can I give thee up, O Ephraim ! how can I give thee over, 

Israel I 

How am I to give thee up as Admah ! make thee like Zeboim ! 
My heart asserts itself; 
My sympathies are all aglow. 

1 will not carry into effect the fierceness of my anger; 
I will not turn to destroy Ephraim. 

For God am I, and not man, 

Holy in the midst of thee, therefore I will not consume. 

In the end divine love triumphs. If this passage stood alone 
it would seem that this triumph was won at the cost of divine 
justice; but in the light of Hosea's teachings as a whole it is 
obvious that there is no antithesis between divine love and 
justice. In the presence of defiant wrong-doing divine justice 
and discipline are the only possible expressions of love. Hosea 
makes it absolutely clear that all of Israel's seeming misfortunes, 
the calamity which overtook the pioneer nation in the valley 
of Achor (which means sorrow), her earlier conflicts with neigh- 
bouring nations, and even the Assyrian scourge are but Je- 
hovah's method of teaching her the way in which she should 
walk and the folly of disobedience and disloyalty. As in 
Thompson's Hound of Heaven, God is unescapable, but his 
tireless pursuit is prompted only by love. 

Hosea's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. The first 
impression conveyed by Hosea's brilliant impassioned addresses 
is that he was a preacher and theologian rather than a social 
teacher. A closer study, however, makes it clear that he 
was one of the most scientific of the prophets, for his funda- 
mental teachings are not dogmatic nor metaphysical, but are 
based on personal experience and a careful study of the psycho- 
logical forces which mould society. He spoke with power and 
conviction because he stood squarely on reality; but he dealt 
not merely with external acts but also with underlying motives. 
He recognised that a man's will, and therefore his every act, 
is governed as much by his emotions as by his intelligence. 
Hence he sought to develop normal feelings in the heart of the 
individual and society, so that whatever be the social environ- 



58 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES 

ment a right response would be assured. In other words, for 
external control through law and custom and public opinion 
he sought to substitute social self-control. 

Hosea also revolutionised man's conception of God and the 
function of human society. He anticipated by eight cen- 
turies Jesus' teaching that God is love and that personal 
loyalty to him ("Seek first the rule of God") is the essential 
prerequisite of a perfect social order. Hosea vastly simplified 
the idea of religion when he declared that God is the supreme 
Lover and that man is the chief object of his love. With in- 
tuitions sharpened by painful personal experience he recognised 
that the dominant passion of every true lover is to perfect the 
character and happiness of the one loved. He saw, too, that 
God cannot alone perfect society. If love is to realise itself 
fully it must be reciprocated. Hence, when the prophet saw 
the perjury, the falsehood, the immorality, the oppression, and 
the apostasy of the Northern Israelites he realised with horror 
how far they were from attaining to the social ideal of their 
divine Lover. In the immortal passage found in Hosea 6 4 ~ 6 the 
prophet makes Jehovah himself declare in impassioned words 
these basal truths: 

What can I make of you, O Ephraim ! 
What can I make of you, O Israel I 
Since your love is like a morning cloud, 
Yea, like the dew which early goes away. 
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, 
I have slain them by the words of my mouth. 
And my judgment is like the light that goes forth, 
For it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice, 
And knowledge of God and not burnt-offerings. 

Hosea's analysis of the causes of the crimes which destroy 
society is as simple as it is satisfying. Men wrong their fellows 
because they are not inspired by a passionate loyalty to God. 
They are unfaithful to God because they do not love him. 
They do not love him because they do not truly know him 



HOSEA'S CONTRIBUTIONS 59 

(Hos. 4 1 ). To the entire group of Israel's faithless teachers the 
prophet declared (Hos. 4 6a ) : 

Thy people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. 

Hosea's solution, therefore, of the social problem was as 
simple as his analysis. If we are to have a perfect social order 
men must first gain an intimate knowledge of the character 
and purpose of that divine Lover who created man and is ever 
seeking to develop a perfect humanity. Hosea firmly believed 
that "onty- they who know can serve. " He taught, therefore, 
that religious education is the first step toward any lasting 
social reform. When once men know God not only through 
instruction but also through personal insight and experience, 
they will love both him and their fellow men, who are the chief 
objects of his love. When they truly love God and their 
fellow men they will be faithful to all their social obligations. 
Then, like streams cut off from their sources, the vices and 
crimes which sweep society on to its ruin will vanish and a 
perfect social order will be established. The first task, there- 
fore, of Israel's teachers and of all social reformers is, accord- 
ing to Hosea, to make men intimately acquainted with God 
and thereby to kindle in their hearts that divine love and 
loyalty which will bind them to their divine Lover and to their 
fellow men. Thus Hosea proclaimed that real religion is the 
supreme motive power in all enduring social reform. 



VI 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE STATESMAN 

ISAIAH 

The Social Conditions That Confronted Isaiah. During 
the stirring days when Hosea was laying down his fundamental 
social principles in Northern Israel, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, 
entered upon his work as a prophet in Judah. Like De- 
mosthenes, the great Athenian orator and statesman, Isaiah, 
Israel's greatest orator, began his public career as a social re- 
former. In the sixth chapter of his prophecy he gives a vivid 
though highly figurative description of the way in which he 
became a prophet. The underlying reason why he took this 
important step was evidently because he was keenly alive to 
the fact that he belonged to "a people of unclean lips." The 
social conditions in Judah which led him to this conviction 
were very similar to those in Northern Israel. Judah was not 
so wealthy nor prosperous nor so much exposed to the influx 
of foreign ideas as its northern rival; but during the long reign 
of Uzziah (782-739 B.C.) the belated tide of prosperity had at 
last swept into the southern kingdom. The king had gained a 
victory over the Philistines and pushed the borders of Judah 
out into the western plain. Conquest of the Edomites had 
also opened up commerce with Arabia and Africa through the 
port of Elath. Foreign products, customs, and ideas had 
poured into Judah. Royal favouritism and remunerative com- 
merce had developed a wealthy ruling class. The old simple 
life and the happy middle class had as a result suddenly disap- 
peared. The same social evils were rampant in Judah as in 
the north: legal injustice in the courts, misuse of political 
authority to exploit the dependent and labouring classes, lux- 
ury, debauchery, and incompetency on the part of the rulers. 

60 



INFLUENCES THAT MADE A PROPHET 61 

The Influences That Made Isaiah a Prophet. It is ob- 
vious that the conditions which confronted Isaiah stirred his 
conscience and powerfully appealed to his patriotism; but it 
is equally clear that another force was also at work in the 
mind of the young noble of Jerusalem. He declares that, like 
all the true prophets who had preceded him, he was inspired and 
impelled by a clarifying vision of the character and purpose of 
Jehovah. The God whom he saw in his vision when he went 
up to pray at the temple, as the startling news came of the 
death of King Uzziah, was the divine King, majestic and holy, 
directing in justice and righteousness the destinies of men. 
At once this vivid glimpse of reality became the motive force 
in his life. Henceforth Isaiah's great mission was to influence 
his fellow men to be loyal to the demands of this altogether just 
and holy Ruler and thus to share in establishing his kingdom 
on earth. Wherever Isaiah found injustice or anything that 
was incompatible with his lofty conception of the divinely per- 
fect state, he tactfully but uncompromisingly assailed it. Con- 
ditions in Judah were so corrupt that most of his social teach- 
ings are negative. Often they are simply a reiteration of the 
principles already laid down by Amos. At the same time it 
is not difficult to detect, even in his most bitter invectives, the 
outlines of the perfect social order which he was striving to 
establish. 

Isaiah's Denunciation of the Corrupt Rulers of Judah. 
With all the force of his brilliant oratory Isaiah attacked the 
faithless guides who were leading astray his people. In the 
name of Jehovah he preferred a sweeping charge against the 
elders and the princes (Is. 3 14b - 15 t>) : 

You yourselves have devoured the vineyards, 
The spoils of the needy are in your houses. 
What do you mean by crushing my people 
And by grinding the face of the needy? 

Isaiah declared that graft was written all over Judah's public 
life. Like Amos, he saw that this graft, unless it was removed, 



62 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH 

meant not only individual suffering but national weakness and 
ruin (Is. I 21 " 23 ): 

How hath she become an harlot, the once faithful city ! 

Zion, which was full of justice, where righteousness abode ! 

Thy silver is changed to dross, thy wine is mixed with water, 

Thy rulers are unruly and in league with thieves, 

All of them love bribes and are running after fees; 

They do not vindicate the orphan, 

And the cause of the widow does not affect them. 

Lowell (in A Parable) has clearly interpreted these teachings 
of Amos and Isaiah into modern terms: 

Have ye founded your thrones, then, 
On the bodies and souls of living men? 
And think ye that that building will endure 
Which shelters the noble and crushes the poor? 

Isaiah, like Amos, also recognised that a nation is in 
imminent peril when its women are intent simply on their 
personal adornment and in displaying their pr^sical charms. 
He was vividly concrete and pitilessly direct. Effectively he 
draws the sharp contrast between the unnatural display and 
pride of the age and the horrors of captivity and conquest 
which impend (Is. 3 16 » 17 « 24 " 26 , 4 1 ): 

And Jehovah saith: 'Because Zion's daughters are haughty 
And walk with heads held high, and wanton glances, 
Tripping along as they go and jingling with their ankles, 
Therefore, the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head 

of the daughters of Zion, 
And Jehovah will expose their shame. 
And instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; 
And instead of a girdle, a rope; 
Instead of carefully arranged hair, baldness; 
And instead of the beautiful garment, sackcloth; 
Branding instead of beauty. 
Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy warriors in battle. 



DENUNCIATION OF JUDAH'S RULERS 63 

And her gates shall sigh and lament, 

And she shall sit on the ground despoiled. 

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, 

Saying, "Our own bread will we eat, and our own garments will 

we wear, 
Only let us bear thy name; take thou away our disgrace I " ' 

Isaiah's Denunciation of Judicial Injustice. Isaiah, like 
Amos, was a relentless foe of all forms of official corruption. 
In words never to be forgotten by the human race he brands 
these crimes (Is. 5 23 ): 

Woe to those who for a bribe vindicate the wicked, 
And strip the innocent man of his innocence. 

In another memorable utterance the prophet is apparently 
dealing with unjust class legislation (Is. 10 1_4b ) : 

Woe to those who set up iniquitous decrees, 

And the scribes who devote themselves to writing oppression, 

To turn aside the dependent from securing justice, 

To despoil the afflicted of my people of their right, 

That widows may be their prey, 

And that they may spoil orphans ! 

What, then, will you do in the day of punishment, 

And of the driving tempest which shall come from afar? 

To whom will you flee for aid, 

And where will you leave your wealth? 

Only as they crouch under the captives, 

And fall under the slain. 

Land Monopoly. In the simple life of little Judah eco- 
nomic evils were quickly revealed. Land was the one great 
natural resource. In Isaiah's denunciation of those who by fair 
means or foul absorb the hereditary estates of their less suc- 
cessful neighbours until they acquire broad acres in which to 
dwell in ease and quiet, he enunciated a new and exceedingly 
important social principle (Is. 5 8-10 ) : 

Woe to those who join house to house, 
Who add field to field 



64 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH 

Until there is no space left, 

And you dwell alone in the midst of the land. 

In mine ears Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, 

Surely many houses shall become a desolation, 

Though great and fair, they shall be without inhabitants; 

For ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bushel, 

And ten bushels of seed but one bushel of grain. 

It is probable that Isaiah would have condemned all monop- 
oly that is simply egoistic (i. e., that "a man may dwell alone in 
the midst of the land")- The principle applies equally in the 
present age with its great private corporations organised to con- 
trol natural resources. When such a monopoly is conducted 
simply or primarily for the interests of the limited group who 
control it, it is a foe to society, even though in our modern 
complex economic organisation the moral crime involved may 
not be as obvious as it was in the days of Isaiah. The under- 
lying principle laid down by the prophet is all the more impres- 
sive because it was enunciated by one who by inheritance and 
social standing appears to have been closely allied with the 
ruling and wealthy class. It stands as an ideal yet to be 
realised in society. Modern social prophets are still looking 
forward to the day when all who are willing to work will share 
in the natural resources of the earth in proportion to their con- 
tributions to the common good. 

The Economic Significance of Intemperance and Luxury. 
Isaiah, like Amos, was also keenly aware of the economic and 
social significance of intemperance and unwarranted luxury. 
Wealth and personal ability were in his mind sacred trusts to 
be faithfully administered for the welfare of society. Therefore 
he bitterly arraigns those who manifest zeal simply in satisfy- 
ing their own appetites (Is. 5 11 ' 17 ) : 

Woe to those who rise at dawn 
To pursue strong drink, 
Who tarry late in the evening 
Until wine inflames them, 
And lyre and harp and timbrel 



SIGNIFICANCE OF INTEMPERANCE 65 

And flute and wine are at their banquets; 

But they regard not the work of Jehovah, 

And see not what his hands have made. 

Therefore my people go into captivity unprepared, 

And their men of wealth are famished, 

And their noisy revellers are parched with thirst. 

Therefore Sheol yawns greedily 

And to the widest extent opens its mouth; 

And Zion's nobles and her noisy revellers shall go down into it, 

Together with her careless throng and all who rejoice within her, 

And lambs graze as in a wilderness, 

And fatlings feed amid the ruins. 

In imagination Isaiah saw Judah going down to Sheol as a 
result of the careless self-indulgence of its leaders, and Jerusa- 
lem, its capital, a ruin amidst which the shepherds and herds- 
men pasture their flocks and herds. Hence it is not strange 
that he turned with cutting irony upon those who were thus 
betraying their nation (Is. 5 22, 23 ): 

Woe to those who are heroic in drinking wine, 
And valiant in mixing strong drink ! 
Who for a bribe vindicate the wicked, 
And strip the innocent man of his innocence I 

Man's Attitude toward God. Isaiah, like Hosea, real- 
ised that the highest social efficiency was impossible without a 
right relation to the divine Personality who directs and gives 
unity to all life. He knew that the reason why he was a so- 
cial reformer was because of his never-to-be-forgotten vision of 
God and of his holiness which gave a definite objective and 
unity to all his social endeavours. Hence he denounced as 
traitors those who taunted him and gloried in their scepticism 
(Is. 5"), 

Who say, 'Let what he would do hasten, 
Let it come speedily that we may see it, 
Let the purpose of Israel's Holy One draw near, 
And come that we may receive itl' 



66 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH 

In the later crisis of 703-701 B.C. Isaiah warned the leaders 
of Judah (Is. 28 14 - 16a - 18 ): 

Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, you scornful men, 

You rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem: 

Because you have said, 'We have entered into a treaty with death, 

And with Sheol we have made a compact, 

When the overwhelming scourge comes it shall not reach us, 

For we have made a lie our trust and in falsehood we have taken 

refuge/ 
Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: 
'Your covenant with death shall be broken, 
And your compact with Sheol shall not stand, 
When the overwhelming scourge passes over you, you shall be 

trampled down by it.' 

Even more intolerable to Isaiah was hypocrisy (Is. 29 13 • 14 ) : 

And Jehovah saith, 'Because this people draw near with their 

mouth, 
And honour me with their lips, while their heart is far from me, 
So that their fear of me is nothing more than a precept taught by 

men, 
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a thing so wonderful and 

astonishing, 
That the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, the discernment of 

their discerning ones shall be eclipsed.' 

To a broad-minded statesman like Isaiah the lot of his nation, 
misled by sceptical, hypocritical leaders, was supremely tragic. 
The problems of society seemed to him exceedingly simple, 
for he approached them from the religious point of view. In 
repeated crises he was able to save his nation by his wise coun- 
sel, prompted by his simple yet profound faith that a just God 
rules the universe. In one brief couplet he proclaimed the far- 
reaching principle which ever guided him (Is. 7 9c> d ): 

If you will not hold fast, 
Verily you shall not stand fast. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD 67 

The Rule or Kingdom of God. Isaiah, the statesman, 
was apparently the first of the Hebrew prophets to set forth 
clearly the idea of the kingdom or rule of God. It is the 
underlying thought in his initial vision. Jehovah is pictured 
there, not as the divine Lover as in Hosea, but as the majestic 
King, ruling supreme in earth and heaven, who demands the 
loyalty of a holy and righteous people. This conception of 
Jehovah's majesty and of his righteous rule was the basis of 
all of Isaiah's political and social teachings. In the crisis of 
734 B.C., when Ahaz and the people of Judah were trembling 
at the prospect of an immediate attack by the Northern Is- 
raelites and the Arameans, Isaiah declared that these foes 
would be quickly overthrown, for they were insolently bidding 
defiance to the divine King. With all the power of his elo- 
quence Isaiah urged the people of Judah not to dread these 
northern foes and their conspiracy to compel the little kingdom 
to unite with them in defying Assyria. Rather he declared 
(Is. 8 12 ): 

Call ye not conspiracy all that this people calleth conspiracy. 
What they fear do not fear nor be filled with dread. 

As long as the leaders of Judah were loyal to the demands 
of Jehovah, Isaiah felt certain that the state was invincible. 
The one thing that made him shudder and predict its desola- 
tion was that they were disloyal to their divine King (Is. 8 13, 14 ) : 

Jehovah of hosts, him regard as the conspirator ! 

Let him be your fear and your dread ! 

For he will be a stumbling block and a stone to strike against, 

And a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel, 

A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 

The same exalted conception of Jehovah's rule was clearly 
the basis of Isaiah's bold predictions of the overthrow of the 
mighty Assyrians. In the eyes of the prophet they were sim- 
ply the rod of Jehovah's anger, the staff by which he mani- 
fested his just indignation against his guilty people (Is. 10 6 ) : 



68 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH 

Against an impious nation am I wont to send him, 
And against the people of my wrath I give him a charge. 
To take spoil and gather booty, 
And to tread them down like the mire in the streets. 



When, however, Assyria became arrogant and declared "by 
the strength of my hand I have done it," its doom was sealed. 
In Isaiah's teaching Jehovah is the concrete embodiment of 
the immutable moral laws which, if disregarded by nations or 
individuals, in the end work out inexorably to the undoing or 
ruin of the transgressor. 

The majority of Isaiah's social teachings are presented in 
negative form. He was the master of powerful invective, and 
he wielded this weapon most effectively. His positive teach- 
ings regarding the kingdom or rule of God may, to a great ex- 
tent, be inferred from his denunciations. It is evident that, 
unlike Amos and his later contemporary Micah, Isaiah did not 
look for the complete destruction of the Hebrew commonwealth. 
Rather he hoped that a perfect social order might evolve out 
of the imperfect society. It was to this end that he unspar- 
ingly laid bare his nation's faults. He laboured to develop 
a state in which the rulers would be just, faithful, and self- 
sacrificing, the judges absolutely impartial, the rich and ruling 
classes ever considerate of the interests of the dependent. He 
dreamed of a state in which all the natural resources would be 
administered as a common trust; of a nation in which all the 
citizens would be absolutely upright and devotedly loyal to 
their divine King. These ideals are gathered up by later dis- 
ciples of Isaiah and expressed in positive form in such passages 
as Isaiah 9 1-7 , 11, and 32 1-8 . Once or twice Isaiah himself 
definitely voiced them. Thus, in his impassioned address to 
the rulers of Judah, after the Assyrian invasion of 701 had left 
the land desolate, he urges (Is. l 16c - 17 ): 

Cease to do evil; learn to do good; 
Seek justice; relieve the oppressed; 
Vindicate the orphan; plead for the widow. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD 69 

Tenderly he continues his exhortation. The destiny of the 
nation depends entirely upon whether it is obedient to the de- 
mands of the divine King (Is. I 18 - 20 ): 

'Come now, let us agree together,' saith Jehovah; 

'Though your sins be as scarlet, they may become white as snow; 

Though they be red as crimson, they may become as wool; 

If ye willingly yield and are obedient, ye shall eat the good of the 

land, 
But if ye refuse and resist, ye shall be devoured by the sword; 
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it I ' 

The defiant attitude of these leaders forebodes immediate 
calamity; but when the dross has been burned away in the fur- 
nace he clearly sees in imagination the ideal kingdom which 
Jehovah will establish (Is. I 26 ) : 

I will again make thy rulers as at the first and thy counsellors as 
at the beginning; 

Afterward thou shalt be called, 'Citadel of Righteousness, Faith- 
ful City.' 

Isaiah's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. Isaiah 
did not analyse the psychological causes and the correctives 
of the social evils of his day as profoundly as did Hosea. His 
conception of the ideal state was influenced to a certain extent 
by his conservative and aristocratic training. And yet Isaiah 
was the first to set forth certain fundamental and far-reaching 
social principles. He first branded as a crime the selfish mo- 
nopoly of natural resources. He also was the first to point 
out the injustice and peril of class legislation (Is. 10 1, 2 ). He it 
was who inaugurated the first temperance crusade recorded m 
human history. Moreover, he based his arguments on the 
same social and economic grounds that are giving ever added 
impetus and strength to that modern world movement. Above 
all, Isaiah traced in bold outline that ideal of a kingdom or 
rule of God which was destined to become a central factor in 
the social evolution of the human race. 



VII 



MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE COMMON 

PEOPLE 

Micah's Origin and Point of View. Micah, like Amos, 
came from the country. His home was at Moresheth, one of 
the little hamlets on the outskirts of the old Philistine town of 
Gath. It lay, therefore, in the rocky, rolling foot-hills that 
separated the Philistine plain from the uplands of Judah. 
This region had apparently been colonised by Jews during the 
strong reign of Uzziah, when the borders of Judah had been 
pushed westward. It was the part of southern Palestine most 
exposed to the attacks of the Assyrian armies, for they always 
approached Judah from the coast plains that skirted the 
eastern Mediterranean. Apparently, the immediate occasion 
of Micah' s prophecy was the approach of the army of Sennach- 
erib, which in 701 B.C. swept up through the western valleys 
of Judah, laying waste forty-six of its towns and villages and 
looting even Jerusalem itself. Micah's point of view is that 
of a countryman appalled by the crimes of the great city, who 
regards its corrupt life as a deadly menace toHhe peace and 
prosperity of the nation. Like Amos, he was a prophet of 
passion and fire. It is easy to picture him in imagination 
surrounded by a group of terrified villagers as he heralded the 
doom that was about to fall upon Judah (Mi. 1 5 » 6 « 9 ): 

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, 
And for the sin of the house of Judah. 

What was the transgression of Jacob ? Was it not Samaria ? 
What is the sin of Judah ? Is it not Jerusalem ? 
Therefore I have made Samaria a ruin that is tilled, 
And a place where a vineyard is planted; 

70 



MICAH'S POINT OF VIEW 71 

I have poured down her stones into the valley, 
And I have laid bare her foundation. 

For the blow that she has received is incurable, 

Indeed, it has come even to Judah ! 

It extends even to the gate of my people ! 

In a later passage Micah predicts a similar fate for Jeru- 
salem. In 6 9 " 11 he voices his convictions as he observes the so- 
cial evils that are especially characteristic of civic life: 

Hark ! Jehovah crieth to the city ! 

Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city: 

'Can I forget the treasures of the house of the wicked, 

And the accursed scant measure? 

Can I leave her unpunished because of evil balances, 

And the bag of false weights, 

Whose riches are full of violence, 

And her inhabitants speak falsehood, 

And their tongue is deceit in their mouth?' 

Micah's Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers. 
Like most of the Hebrew prophets, Micah went directly to 
Jerusalem, the centre of the nation's life. Again we can see 
in imagination this stern countryman, impelled by the dread 
news of the Assyrian advance, leaving his country home and 
going up with grim determination and the absolute conviction 
of a divine call to make known to the greedy rulers of his na- 
tion the woes which they were bringing upon the innocent. 
He voiced in scathing words, that remind us of the impassioned 
addresses of certain modern socialists, the bitter cry of the 
oppressed against their oppressors. Using a figure already em- 
ployed by Isaiah (Is. 9 20, 21 ), he calls them merciless cannibals. 
Instead of protecting they prey on the people intrusted to their 
charge (Mi. 3 1 - 3 ): 

Hear now, O heads of Jacob, 

And ye judges of the house of Israel. 

Is it not your duty to know what is the right? 

Haters of that which is good and lovers of evil 1 



72 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE 

They devour the flesh of my people, 
And their hide they strip from off them, 
And break in pieces and serve up their bones, 
As in a pot or as meat in the cooking-pan ! 

In the same way he arraigned the leaders of the corrupt 
commercial city because they had perverted justice and to in- 
justice had added hypocrisy and a false trust in Jehovah. He 
turned upon them with bitter sarcasm (Mi. 3 9-11 ) : 

Hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob, 
And ye judges of the house of Israel, 
Ye who spurn justice, 
And make all that is straight crooked, 
Who build Zion with acts of bloodshed, 
And Jerusalem with crime. 

The heads render judgment for a bribe, 
And her priests give oracles for a reward, 
And her prophets divine for silver; 
Yet they lean upon Jehovah and think, 
'Jehovah is indeed in our midst, 
Evil cannot overtake us/ 

For crimes like these he declares (Mi. 3 12 ): 

Therefore for your sakes 

Zion shall be ploughed as a field, 

And Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, 

And the temple mount a wooded height. 

The Responsibilities of Wealth. It is evident that in 
the days of Micah Judah had reached its lowest social degra- 
dation. The base example of the rulers had affected all classes. 
True brotherhood and genuine patriotism had almost vanished 
even from the hearts of the common people. Selfish, blatant 
materialism was regnant. Israel's noble social ideals were ig- 
nored. Micah has forever dramatised the thoroughly unsocial 
and criminal type of man who maintains his place in society 
by keeping just within the law (Mi. 2 1 * 2 ): 



RESPONSIBILITIES OF WEALTH 73 

• 
Woe to those who devise mischief on their beds, 
Which in the light of morning they accomplish, for it is in their 

power to do it. 
They covet fields and seize them, houses and they take them; 
So they crush a strong man and his household, a man and his 

heritage. 

Micah evidently contemplated with grim satisfaction the 
merciless judgment which the approaching conquerors would 
visit upon these human vultures. He dramatically voices the 
dirge which would then be sung over them. With keen sarcasm 
he repeats their indignant protest and describes the type of 
prophet that would delight the soul of these social degener- 
ates (Mi. 2«- 7 ' n ): 

'Prophesy not,' they urge; 'of such things one does not prophesy; 
The reproaches of him who speaks will not overtake the house of 

Jacob. 
Is Jehovah impatient, or are these his doings ? 
Are not his words favourable to his people Israel?* 
Yea, if a man walking in wine and falsehood were to deceive you 

[saying], 
'I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink/ 
Then he would be the prophet of this people ! 

The Duties of Those Intrusted with Public Education in 
Religion and Morals. Micah evidently found in Jerusalem 
a group of official prophets — smug, sleek, and self-satisfied. 
Like their forebears in the days of Ahab (cf. I Kgs. 22) they 
seemed to think that their task was simply to salve the con- 
sciences of the corrupt rulers and to commend their policies 
so as to secure their public approval. No lofty social ideals 
haunted them and disturbed their serene self-complacence. 
The contrast between them and Micah was the eternal contrast 
between the mercenary priestling and the true prophet. Micah 
himself felt the tremendous difference and pictures it in vigorous 
imagery. This countryman from the plain also had a grim 
sense of humour, and he uses it to lay bare the baseness of these 



74 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE 

men, the betrayers rather than the saviours of the people in 
the hour of mortal peril (Mi. 3 5-7 ) : 

Therefore Jehovah saith to the prophets who lead my people 

astray, 
Who when they have anything between their teeth declare peace, 
But against one who puts nothing in their mouths, they proclaim 

a holy war ! 
'Therefore, night shall overtake you so that you shall have no 

vision, 
And darkness so that there shall be no divination, 
And the sun shall go down on the prophets, 
And the day shall be dark over them. 

The seers will be ashamed, 
And the diviners will turn pale, 
All of them shall cover the beard, 
For there is no answer from God/ 

The Results of Micah's Social Teaching. Micah is one 
of the few Hebrew prophets who succeeded in making a definite 
and immediate impression upon the social life of his nation. 
We learn this fact from an incidental reference in the twenty- 
sixth chapter of Jeremiah. That valiant prophet had declared, 
a century later, that the temple and Jerusalem would, be- 
cause of Judah's crimes, become desolate without inhabitant. 
This prediction so infuriated the people that they would have 
slain him had his friends not interceded (Jer. 26 16-19 ) : 

Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to 
the prophets, This man is not guilty of a capital offense, for he 
has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. Thereupon 
certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembly 
of the people, saying, Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the 
days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people 
of Judah, saying, 'Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 

"Zion shall be ploughed as a field, 
And Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, 
And the temple-mount wooded heights." ' 



RESULTS OF MICAH'S TEACHING 75 

Did Hezekiah and all Judah indeed put him to death? Did 
they not fear Jehovah and appease Jehovah, so that Jehovah re- 
pented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? But 
we are on the point of doing great injury to ourselves. 

That a reformation was instituted during the reign of Hez- 
ekiah is also recorded in II Kings 18 4-6 . Inasmuch as the 
author of Kings was chiefly interested in the ceremonial side 
of Israel's religion, he speaks only of the abolition of the sym- 
bols of the ancient Canaanite cults. It is evident, however, 
from the incidental testimony of Jeremiah 26 and from the 
nature of Micah's preaching that this reformation struck deeper 
into the social life of Judah. Micah, indeed, made no refer- 
ence to ceremonial rites and customs. It was solely because 
of Judah's social crimes that he declared: 

Zion shall be ploughed as a field. 

There is ample reason, therefore, for concluding that un- 
der the leadership of Hezekiah, and following the disastrous 
Assyrian invasion in 701 B.C., a series of drastic social reforms 
were instituted that for a time at least delivered Judah from 
the evils against which the prophets of the Assyrian period had 
strenuously protested. This conclusion is incidentally con- 
firmed by the fact that at the later crisis in 690 B.C., when 
Sennacherib again threatened Jerusalem, Isaiah declared un- 
hesitatingly that Sennacherib would fall and Judah survive 
because the one was clearly in the wrong and the other in the 
right (Is. 37). 

It is interesting to analyse the reasons why Micah succeeded 
in arousing the social conscience of the people of Judah even 
when Isaiah had failed. It certainly was not because of his 
originality. In all of his recorded addresses he does little more 
than echo the principles laid down by Isaiah. The first reason, 
doubtless, is because he spoke from the point of view of the 
common people and with a simplicity and vigour and direct- 
ness that were irresistible. His teachings were also powerfully 
reinforced by the deadly fear of imminent invasion that gripped 



76 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE 

the heart of every man and woman and child in his audiences, 
and by the firmly fixed popular belief that calamity was the 
certain evidence of Jehovah's disapproval. Micah was the 
awakening conscience of the nation. He reaped where oth- 
ers had faithfully sown. With sledge-hammer blows he drove 
home the social principles proclaimed by earlier prophets. The 
fact that he reasserted truths already familiar to the people 
but added to their grim effectiveness. 

The Prophetic Definition of Religious Responsibility. 
The sixth chapter of Micah contains a crowning epitome of the 
social teachings of the earlier prophets. In four short lines the 
prophetic definition of religion, that was first presented by Amos 
and supplemented by Hosea and Isaiah, is set forth in a way 
well calculated to arrest the attention of all succeeding ages. 
The scientist Huxley has said of it: 

A perfect ideal of religion ! A conception of religion which ap- 
pears to me as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of 
Phidias or the science of Aristotle 1 

To-day it appropriately stands inscribed on the statue of 
Religion in the Congressional Library at Washington. 

The historical setting of these immortal lines is apparently 
the reactionary reign of Manasseh which immediately followed 
that of Hezekiah. National disaster and apprehension had 
led the people to ask with intense earnestness (Mi. 6 6 - 7 ): 

With what shall I come before Jehovah, 

Bow myself before the God on high? 

Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, 

With calves a year old ? 

Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, 

With myriads of streams of oil? 

Shall I give him my first-born for my guilt, 

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? 

The answer which came first to the popular mind in response 
to this burning question was suggested by the old ceremonial 
conception of religion. Jehovah was thought of as a super- 



PROPHETIC DEFINITION OF RELIGION 77 

human King whose favour could be won by a wealth of ma- 
terial gifts or by the evidence of supreme self-denial on the part 
of his worshippers. Here the prophet repeats those conven- 
tional standards of religious duty which had almost universally 
obtained throughout the ancient world until the days of Amos. 
It was the idea of Jehovah and his service which was still held 
by a majority of the people of Judah. With masterly skill 
the prophet brings this primitive popular conception of religion 
into dramatic contrast with the new social ideals which the 
prophets of the Assyrian period had proclaimed. He declares 
that religion does not consist in forms nor in creeds but in acts 
of justice and love towards man and in that receptive, trusting 
attitude toward God which makes it possible for the individual 
to live in daily fellowship with him (Mi. 6 8 ) : 

It hath been shown thee, O man, what is good; 
And what Jehovah demandeth of thee: 
Only to do justice and love mercy, 
And to walk humbly with thy God. 

Here each of the great social prophets speaks in turn and yet 
in unison. To do justice is an echo of Amos's fundamental 
teaching. The Hebrew word (hesedh) translated "mercy" is 
repeatedly used by Hosea to describe the kinetic love which 
binds God to man and man to God and his fellow men, and in- 
spires him to express that love in acts of mercy (cf. p. 53). 
It is love in action. The command is not merely to aclmire 
but passionately to love love and its social expression. To 
walk humbly with God is a reflection of Isaiah's characteristic 
teaching regarding the majesty and holiness of God. Inter- 
preted in modern terms it means whole-hearted, devoted loy- 
alty. Justice and love toward man and devoted loyalty to 
God — these are the three basal social virtues, and each mar- 
vellously reinforces the others. He who, like Micah, syn- 
thesises and makes old truths new and vital forces in human 
history certainly deserves a high place among the immortal 
teachers of mankind. 



VIII 

THE SOCIAL REFORMERS OF THE SEVENTH 

CENTURY 

The Decadent Seventh Century. The seventh century b.c. 
in southwestern Asia was a period of decadence and tran- 
sition. Under two energetic kings, Esarhaddon and Ashur- 
banipal, the bounds of the Assyrian empire were extended to 
their farthest limits. Even the proud domain of the Pha- 
raohs was at last gathered into Assyria's net. Judah and the 
other small states along the eastern Mediterranean had learned 
through bitter experience the futility of resisting this great 
world-conqueror. Spoil and tribute from every quarter poured 
into the Assyrian treasury; but luxury and moral and social 
corruption were rapidly destroying its strength. The empire 
depended for its defense upon the hired mercenaries and sub- 
ject peoples enlisted in its armies. Patriotism and loyalty had 
practically disappeared. The entire empire was ruled simply 
for the purpose of satisfying the personal ambitions and greed 
of the king and the group of rapacious nobles who gathered 
abouf him. Assyria, although to outward appearance at the 
height of its power, was on the verge of that complete collapse 
which came suddenly in 605 B.C. Like Northern Israel a cen- 
tury before and Rome eleven centuries later, its fall vividly 
illustrated the great social and moral principles which the He- 
brew prophets proclaimed. 

Nahum's Condemnation of War Prompted by Greed. The 
guilt of Assyria and its downfall are the occasion of the power- 
ful prophecy of Nahum. Of the prophet himself nothing is 
known except what is revealed in the two and a half chapters 
which have come from his pen. Over the cruel, rapacious em- 
pire this prophet of obscure Judah chants a powerful doom-song. 

78 



NAHUM'S CONDEMNATION OF WAR 79 

In the collapse of the great empire he saw not only a vindica- 
tion of Jehovah's just rulership of the world but also the con- 
demnation of the brutal policy which for over two centuries 
had involved southwestern Asia in almost continuous war. 
He strips away all the false pretensions of the great world- 
conqueror and lays bare the elemental passions which through- 
out the ages have been the chief incentives to war. He declares 
that the wars waged by Assyria upon the petty nations of 
southwestern Asia were simply organised murder inspired by 
the desire to rob and to gratify the bestial appetites (Nah. 
2 11 ' 12 ): 

Where is the den of the lions, 

The lair of the young lions, 

Where the lion was wont to withdraw, 

The whelps also with none to startle them ? 

The lion tore in pieces enough for his whelps, 

And strangled for his mates, 

He filled his caves with prey, 

And his lairs with plunder. 

In imagination he beholds Assyria's foes, inspired by the same 
ravenous desires, battering down the doors and entering this 
den of robbers. At last the hour of judgment has struck and 
the prophet urges on these agents of divine wrath (Nah. 2 9 » 10 ): 

Loot the silver, loot the gold; 

For there is no end of the store, 

The wealth of all precious things ! 

She is empty and desolate and waste, 

The heart faints, the knees smite together, 

Anguish is in all loins, 

And the faces of all are flushed. 

Through all this song of doom there runs as a recurring note 
the divine condemnation of all war that is prompted by the lust 
for power and spoil (Nah. 2 13 ) : 

Behold I am against thee, is the oracle of Jehovah of hosts, 
And I will burn thy dwellings in smoke; 



80 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY 

The sword shall devour thy young lions; 

Yea, I will cut off thy prey from the earth, 

The voice of thy messengers shall be heard no more. 

Nahum was a worthy forerunner of the modern peace move- 
ment. In an age when war raged almost unceasingly he pro- 
tested passionately against it if undertaken for greedy motives. 

He had in mind Nineveh, the proud capital of Assyria (Nah. 
31,30, d). 

Woe to the bloody city, 

Full of lies and plunder ! 

There are corpses without number I 

They stumble over the bodies 1 

War carried on for such motives Nahum declared is a hideous 
crime which Jehovah will surely and overwhelmingly punish 
(Nah. 3 8 ' 7 ' 19 ): 

I will cast loathsome filth upon thee, 
And make thee vile and set thee as a gazing stock. 
And all who look upon thee will flee from thee, 
And say, 'Nineveh is wasted ! Who will bewail her? 
Whence shall I seek comfort for thee?' 

There is no healing for thy hurt, thy wound is fatal I 

All those who hear the tidings about thee clap their hands over 

thee, 
For upon whom hath thy wickedness not fallen continually ? 

The Significance of the Reactionary Reign of Manasseh. 

The seventh century before Christ also witnessed the political 
and religious decline of Judah. By submitting to Assyria 
Hezekiah and his son Manasseh preserved the integrity of their 
nation, but they purchased their deliverance at a terrible cost. 
Manasseh during his long reign of nearly half a century (686- 
641) and his son Amon, who reigned until 639 B.C., repudi- 
ated the teachings of Isaiah and Micah, and opened wide the 
doors of Judah to the culture and religion of the Assyrian 
conqueror. The alluring Assyrio-Babylonian culture inundated 



THE REIGN OF MANASSEH 81 

Judah. The one important Palestinian inscription that has 
come down from this period is written in the Assyrian script. 
It records the sale of a piece of land in which the contracting 
parties bear Assyrian as well as Hebrew names. The state- 
ment in II Kings 23 5 implies that the Babylonian sun god 
Shamash and the moon god Sin and other Babylonian astral 
deities were during this reactionary period worshipped even in 
the Jewish temple at Jerusalem. The common people were 
allowed and possibly encouraged to revive the old Canaanite 
Baal cults (II Kgs. 23 6 « 7 ). Equally radical and disastrous was 
the social reaction. The noble ideals of the earlier prophets 
were trampled underfoot. Having neither the inspiration of a 
lofty religion nor of the high moral idealism of men like Isaiah, 
the rich and ruling classes again began to exploit the people 
and thus to destroy the very foundations of true patriotism and 
national integrity. 

The Reformer Prophet Zephaniah. The eternal law of ac- 
tion and reaction in time asserted itself in Judah. The peo- 
ple themselves began to see the results of their immorality and 
to grow weary of the intolerable conditions. More important 
still was the quiet but persistent activity of the spiritual dis- 
ciples of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah. According to the testi- 
mony of II Kings 21 16 : 

Manasseh shed much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem 
from one end to the other. 

Undoubtedly the chief victims of Manasseh's reactionary 
spirit were the followers of the true prophets. For half a cen- 
tury their voice was silenced in public; but the event indicates 
that they worked privately and ceaselessly to re-establish the 
principles of the great social prophets as the ruling forces in 
the life of Judah. At first they depended chiefly upon educa- 
tional methods. Upon the young Josiah they appear to have 
bestowed their chief attention. Their influence is the only 
explanation of why the son of a reactionary father and grand- 
father became the leader in a great religious and social refor- 
mation. 



82 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY 

Unquestionably chief among the men who moulded the char- 
acter of the young Josiah, who came to the throne in 639 at 
the age of eight, was Zephaniah. According to the super- 
scription which stands at the beginning of his prophecy, he was 
the great-great-grandson of Hezekiah and therefore a cousin 
of the king. From his brief prophecy it is clear that he was 
intimately acquainted with conditions in Jerusalem and the 
court. He was also a man of clear convictions and of tremen- 
dous force of character. Like a tempest his fiery eloquence 
swept aside all opposition. He was the Savonarola of ancient 
Jerusalem and, like the later prophet of Florence, exerted a 
powerful influence upon both king and people. His description 
of the day of Jehovah, which in its Latin translation is known 
as the great mediaeval hymn, "Dies Irse," is one of the most 
powerful passages in human literature. Much of his fiery, 
uncompromising zeal is reflected in the radical reformation 
that was later carried through by the young Josiah. 

Jeremiah of Anathoth. Closely associated with Zephaniah 
was his young contemporary Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a na- 
tive of the little town of Anathoth, a northern suburb of Je- 
rusalem. He was apparently a descendant of the priestly 
house of Eli, which had been banished from Jerusalem by 
Solomon. Naturally shy and shrinking, Jeremiah had the per- 
sistency and devotion that have given us the world's great- 
est martyrs. For fully half a century he was, as he declares, 
"a brazen wall against the kings of Judah, its princes and its 
common people. " During most of this period they fought 
against him but did not overcome him, for, as he tells us, 
Jehovah was ever with him to deliver him. In the opening 
years of Josiah' s reign Jeremiah joined with Zephaniah in the 
attempt to arouse the conscience of the people. The first six 
chapters of his prophecy contain extracts from the addresses 
which he then delivered. The event which apparently prepared 
the way for the public activity of each of these prophets was 
the approach, about the year 626 B.C., of a horde of Scythian 
invaders. One of the impressions which convinced Jeremiah 
that he must assume the role of a prophet was the vision of a 



JEREMIAH OF ANATHOTH 83 

caldron, brewing hot and facing from the north, which sym- 
bolised the fact that "from the north disaster is brewing for 
the inhabitants of the land." In a later address he gives a vivid 
description of this dread, mysterious, nomadic horde of ruth- 
less barbarians who, like their modern descendants, the Cos- 
sacks, carried terror wherever they went (Jer. 6 22, 23 ): 

Thus saith Jehovah: 'Behold a people is coming from the north 

land, 
And a great nation is arousing itself from the uttermost parts of 

the earth. 
They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless; 
Their din is like the roaring of the sea, and they ride upon horses. 
Each is arrayed as a man for battle against thee, O daughter of 

Zion.' 

The prophet then goes on to describe the effect of their ap- 
proach upon the people (Jer. 6 24 ) : 

We have heard the report of it; our hands become feeble; 
Anguish takes hold of us, pangs of a woman in travail. 

With true psychological insight the prophets recognised that 
the moment at last had arrived when they could effectively 
appeal to the nation. WTiat the situation demanded was not 
the setting forth of a new truth but the bold reassertion of 
the great moral and social principles laid down by the earlier 
prophets. The work of Zephaniah and Jeremiah is primarily 
significant because under their teaching these principles were 
not only accepted by the people but also expressed in definite 
laws which remain as one of Israel's great abiding contributions 
to the ethical and social idealism of the human race (cf. chap. 
IX). 

Their Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers and 
Religious Leaders. Although of royal rank and a citizen of 
Jerusalem, Zephaniah joined in an unsparing attack upon the 
guilty rulers of Judah (Zeph. 3 3 - 4 ): 



84 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY 

Her rulers in her midst are roaring lions, 

Her judges are evening wolves, who leave nothing over until the 

morning, 
Her prophets are braggarts, faithless men, 
Her priests profane what is holy and do violence to the law. 

Their guilt was all the more heinous because they knew very 
clearly what was their responsibility and the disastrous conse- 
quences of disregarding the eternal social and moral principles 
which govern the life of a nation (Zeph. 3 5 ' 7 ) : 

Jehovah is righteous in her midst, he doeth no wrong, 

Morning by morning he establishes his decree, 

Light is not lacking, an oversight is unknown. 

I have cut off nations, their turrets are destroyed; 

I have laid waste their broad streets, so that none passes over 

them. 
Desolate are their cities without a man, without inhabitant. 
I said, 'Surely she will fear me, she will accept instruction, 
Nothing shall vanish from her eyes that I have impressed upon 

her'; 
But the more zealously have they made all their deeds corrupt. 

Jeremiah likewise declared that the hands of Judah's rulers 
were stained with the blood of the innocent and that they 
were even more guilty than common housebreakers (Jer. 2 34 ). 
Like Diogenes of old, he sought in vain through the streets of 
Jerusalem to find a man "who does right and seeks after the 
truth." Equally fruitless was his quest when he turned to the 
royal court (Jer. 5 4 » B ): 

Then I thought, 'Surely these are the common people, they are 

without understanding, 
For they know not the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. 
Therefore I will go to the nobles and speak to them, 
For they know the way of Jehovah and the law of their God/ 
But these have all broken the yoke and burst the bonds. 

In a later passage, in which Jeremiah contrasts King Josiah 
and his selfish and reactionary son Jehoiakim, the prophet has 



THE DUTIES OF RULERS 85 

given a remarkably concrete picture of an ideal ruler. The 
prophecy is addressed directly to Jehoiakim, who, although the 
ruler of an impoverished nation facing imminent invasion, con- 
tinued to exploit his people in order to gratify his personal pas- 
sion for display and luxury (Jer. 22 13 " 19 ) : 

Woe to him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his 

chambers by injustice; 
Who causeth his neighbour to labour without wages, and giveth him 

not his pay; 
Who saith, 'I will build me a vast palace with spacious chambers; 
Provided with deep-cut windows, ceiled with cedar and painted 

with vermilion.' 
Dost thou call thyself king because thou excellest in cedar? 
Thy father — did he not eat and drink and execute law and justice ? 
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. 

'Was not this to know me?' saith Jehovah. 
'But thine eyes and heart are bent only on thy dishonest gain, 
And on the shedding of innocent blood and on oppression and 

violence ! ' 

Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, the son of 

Josiah, king of Judah: 
'They shall not lament over him, "O my brother" or "O my 

sister"! 
They shall not wail for him, "O Lord" or "O his glory" ! 
He shall be buried as an ass is buried, drawn out and cast forth.' 

Even more scathing is Jeremiah's condemnation of Judah's 
faithless religious teachers (Jer. 5 30 ' 31 ): 

Frightful and horrible things have taken place in the land: 
The prophets prophesy falsely, 
The priests teach according to their direction, 
And my people love to have it so ! 
What will ye do at the end ? 

Not only have Judah's professional priests and prophets 
neglected their task as the social conscience of their nation, 
but they have also lulled the people into a feeling of false se- 



86 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY 

curity. Jeremiah's dramatic setting forth of this truth has 
made a deep impression upon human literature and thought 
( Jer. 6 14 ) : 

They have healed the hurt of my people as though it was slight, 
Saying, 'Peace, peace/ when there is no peace! 

They are not at all ashamed, nor do they know enough to blush ! 

The Irresponsible, Unprincipled Rich. Zephaniah and 
Jeremiah are equally bold in attacking the economic evils of 
their day. One of the chief reasons why Zephaniah predicted 
that the day of Jehovah was "near and rapidly approaching" 
was because of (Zeph. l 12b> c ) 

The wealthy who are thickened upon their lees, 
Who are saying to themselves, 'Jehovah brings neither prosperity 
nor calamity!' 

He declared that (Zeph. I 13 - 18a ) 

Their wealth shall become a prey and their houses a desolation. 
Neither shall their silver nor their gold be able to deliver them ! 

By the pregnant figure, drawn from the well-known character- 
istic of old wine, he described the natural conservatism of 
wealth. The peril of the rich is that they become inert and 
strive to maintain the existing order, even though it is radi- 
cally wrong, until they have lost the very capacity of action. 
In the hour of calamity wealth is no protection against the 
invader. Instead it simply tends to give to those who pos- 
sess it a false sense of security which blinds them to their real 
danger. 

Jeremiah has given an equally keen analysis of the effects of 
wealth unjustly obtained (Jer. 5 2628 ) : 

Wicked men are found, who set snares and catch men with 
traps so that their houses are full of the fruits of their crooked 
dealing, even as a cage is full of birds. Thus they become great 



THE UNPRINCIPLED RICH 87 

and rich, they who have grown fat. They plan wicked things 
and succeed; they violate justice. The cause of the fatherless and 
the rights of the needy they do not defend. 

This description fits the same type to-day as well as in the 
decadent seventh century before Christ. The principle, which 
underlies Jeremiah's grim warning, is also equally applicable 
(Jer. 5 29 ) : 

' Shall I not punish such as these ? ' is Jehovah's oracle, 
' Or on such a nation as this shall I not be avenged ? ' 

On a later occasion, when in the presence of foreign invaders 
the rich landlords of Judah had solemnly agreed to set free their 
slaves and then shamelessly broken their covenant, Jeremiah 
unsparingly denounced the ruling classes and thereby declared 
himself the open foe of slavery and the active champion of 
individual liberty (Jer. 34). 

The Aims of the Prophetic Reformers Who Prepared the 
Laws in Deuteronomy. We have a threefold record of the 
great reformation which culminated in 621 B.C. One is the 
testimony of the prophecies of Zephaniah and Jeremiah; an- 
other is the twenty-third chapter of II Kings, which describes 
the measures adopted by the reformers ; the third is in the book 
of Deuteronomy itself, which contains the laws which were 
then promulgated. The character of these laws reveals the 
aim of those who formulated them. Their primary purpose 
was to correct the evils which had crept into Judah during the 
reign of Manasseh and to render their reappearance forever 
impossible. With this end in view the formal religious life of 
the nation was transferred from the old Canaanite local shrines 
and centred entirely in Jerusalem. At the same time the re- 
formers aimed to apply the ethical and social principles set 
forth by earlier prophets to the daily life of the people. In 
their essence the laws of Deuteronomy are prophetic rather 
than priestly. It is probable that the men who wrote them 
were prophets, although priests like Hilkiah, the head of the 
temple priesthood, who was in hearty sympathy with the pro- 



88 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY 

phetic party, may also have had a voice in formulating them. 
Most of these laws are moulded by Hosea's great doctrine of 
love to God and man. It was a catholic love which went out 
also to dumb beasts (Dt. 5 14 , 25 4 ) and to foreigners resident in 
Israel, who hitherto had few rights under the Hebrew law. 
The method of these prophetic lawgivers was in most cases 
evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Ordinarily they aimed 
to modify or supplement rather than set aside existing laws 
and institutions. The result is that the laws of Deuteronomy 
are a vivid, concrete record of the developing idealism of the 
Hebrew race down to the close of the seventh century B.C. 
It is not the work of any one man, but is the embodiment of 
the idealism of a nation that had learned many important 
lessons in the painful school of experience and at last was re- 
sponsive to the teachings of its noblest social and religious 
teachers. In this code all that is finest in Israel's early religion 
is blended. 

Formal Adoption of the New Prophetic Code. The 
twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of II Kings contain 
a graphic account of the way in which the prophetic code, now 
embodied in the book of Deuteronomy, was made the law of 
the realm. This momentous step was not easy. Evidently 
the prophetic tradition that Moses was the author of all of 
Israel's laws was already beginning to crystallise. A new code, 
therefore, that had been written by private individuals, even 
though it included many of the older laws of the race and rep- 
resented the natural development of the principles earlier laid 
down by Moses, was in great danger of being regarded with 
suspicion. This danger probably led its authors to place it 
in the temple, possibly in the keeping of the friendly high priest 
Hilkiah, until a favourable moment came in which to present 
it to the king and people. That opportunity arose when King 
Josiah, after ruling seventeen years, began to make certain 
repairs on the temple. Then the prophetic code was brought 
forth by Hilkiah and placed in the hands of Shaphan, Josi- 
ah's private secretary. After reading it the king was greatly 
stirred, and sent it to a certain prophetess Huldah, who was 



ADOPTION OF THE NEW CODE 89 

attached to the court, to have its validity attested. Huldah 
was evidently in full sympathy with its enactment, for she at 
once confirmed its authority. This confirmation encouraged 
Josiah to act. The graphic account of the way in which this 
code was made binding upon the people of Judah and pro- 
mulgated as a law is found in II Kings 23 1-3 : 

And the king sent and they gathered to him all the elders of 
Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the temple of 
Jehovah, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabi- 
tants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets and 
all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hear- 
ing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in 
the temple of Jehovah. And the king stood by the pillar and 
made a covenant before Jehovah to establish the words of this 
covenant that were written in this book. And all the people 
confirmed the covenant. 

Acting in accord with the commands of this code, Josiah at 
once proceeded to institute a rigorous reform. The priests and 
the paraphernalia of the Canaanite and Babylonian cults were 
banished from Jerusalem. The heathen shrines outside the 
capital city were destroyed and defiled (II Kgs. 23 6 " 15 ). The 
enactments of the new code were enforced in the temple, in 
the court, and in the daily life of the people. Judah entered 
upon a new social and religious era that made the brief reign 
of Josiah seem like a brilliant autumnal day, all the more 
glorious in contrast with the wintry years of exile which quickly 
followed. 



THE SOCIAL PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN THE 
PROPHETIC CODE OF DEUTERONOMY 

Domestic Relations : Duties of Husbands to Their Wives. 
The prophets who formulated the laws of Deuteronomy were 
ardent champions of the defenseless. At the same time they 
were practical reformers, and therefore did not attempt the 
impossible. When existing institutions were not absolutely 
harmful they accepted them. Evil customs they sought to 
ameliorate by modifying rather than by condemning them. 
It was because they adopted this mediating method that their 
laws quickly gained popular acceptance. Thus they made no 
protest against the old Semitic custom which permitted the 
victor to marry a woman captured in war, but they commanded 
that every consideration should be shown for her feelings (Dt. 
21 10 - 14 ). She was to be allowed to put off the garb of captiv- 
ity and to lament for her father and mother a month undis- 
turbed. Then she was to be given the full rights of wifehood. 
Her husband could never again sell her into slavery. They 
also enacted that whoever brought a false charge of infidelity 
against his wife should pay a heavy fine to her father and 
should never be allowed to divorce her (Dt. 22 19 ). While they 
were not able to abolish the Semitic custom which made di- 
vorce easy, they did all in their power to make it more difficult 
for a husband to put away his wife at will. They provided that 
he must give her a written statement of the grounds for such 
action and should never be allowed to remarry her (Dt. 24 1 - 4 ). 
Most men would hesitate long before they committed them- 
selves to a statement which the parents of their rejected wife 
could and in most cases would compel them to prove before 
a public tribunal. The irrevocable nature of that act would 

90 



DUTIES OF HUSBANDS 91 

also deter them from yielding to a passing impulse. In this 
earliest of marriage laws the aim, therefore, is not to counte- 
nance but to put barriers in the way of divorce. 

Duties of Parents to Children. Equally progressive is 
the Deuteronomic legislation that aims to define the duties of 
parents to their children. The ancient lawgivers have an- 
ticipated the fundamental principle underlying the modern 
religious-education movement. Upon the parents they throw 
the responsibility of teaching their children the essential prin- 
ciples of religion and morals and of utilising to that end every 
opportunity presented by their daily life together. These 
lawgivers also appreciated the large pedagogical value of a 
question asked by the one to be taught (Dt. 6 6-9 ' 20 - 25 ): 

These words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon 
thy heart; and thou shalt impress them upon thy children, and 
thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when 
thou risest up. Thou shalt bind them as a reminder on thy hand, 
and have them as bands on thy forehead between thine eyes, and 
thou shalt mark them on the posts of thy house and on thy doors. 

When thy son asketh thee in the future, 'What mean the tes- 
timonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah our 
God hath commanded you?' then shalt thou say to thy son, 'We 
were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; but Jehovah brought us out of 
Egypt with a strong hand; and Jehovah performed before our 
eyes great and destructive signs and wonders, upon Egypt, upon 
Pharaoh, and upon all his household; and he brought us out from 
there, that he might bring us in to give us the land which he swore 
to our fathers. And Jehovah commanded us to act in accord 
with all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, that we might 
always prosper, and that he might preserve us alive, as at this 
day. We shall be righteous if we observe faithfully this com- 
mand before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us/ 

Duties of Children to Parents. The Deuteronomic law- 
givers were strenuously insistent that children in turn honour 
and obey their parents, for they recognised that this attitude 
was essential to a stable social order and to the development 



92 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

of efficient social citizens. They appealed first to the self- 
interest of the children themselves (Dt. 5 16 ) : 

Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath 
commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go 
well with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. 

They fortified this appeal by an educated public opinion, 
for in the formal liturgy, which aimed to impress upon the na- 
tional consciousness the major crimes that must be avoided 
if the common good was to be conserved, they instructed the 
officiating Levites to say (Dt. 27 16 ): 

Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother. And all 
the people shall say, 'So may it be.' 

Finally, they decreed that dishonouring and disobeying par- 
ents was so grievous a crime that organised society itself should 
by the most strenuous methods stamp out this menace to its 
welfare and integrity. There is every reason to believe that 
parental love always prevented, as the lawgivers anticipated 
it would, the execution of this grim law, and that its prac- 
tical value was to emphasise dramatically a vital principle 
(Dt. 21 18 - 21 ): 

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey 
the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they 
chastise him, will not give heed to them, his father and his mother 
shall take hold of him, and bring him before the elders of his city, 
and to the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to 
the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he 
will not obey our voice; he is a spendthrift and a drunkard.' Then 
all the men of his city shall stone him to death; thus thou shalt 
put away the evil from thy midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear. 

Duties of Masters to Slaves. Though obsolete, the Deu- 
teronomic laws regarding slaves are still richly suggestive in 
this modern industrial age, for the underlying principles are 
still applicable. In contrast to the old Babylonian and Roman 



DUTIES OF MASTERS TO SLAVES 93 

lawgivers, the interest of the authors of the Deuteronomic 
codes is entirely with the slave. The code of Hammurabi im- 
posed a most severe penalty upon the man who harboured a 
runaway slave. The Deuteronomic lawgivers, however, with 
a bold disregard for existing customs and vested interests, de- 
creed (Dt. 23 15 ' 16 ): 

Thou shalt not deliver to his master a slave who has fled from 
his master to thee. He shall dwell with thee in thy land, in the 
place which he shall choose within one of thy towns, where it 
pleases him best, without thy oppressing him. 

They also provided that the slaves should share equally with 
the children of the household in the annual festivities which 
were celebrated at Jerusalem (Dt. 12 17 - 18 , 16 11 ). To the primitive 
law of Exodus 21 2 , which enacted that all Hebrew slaves should 
be freed after six years of service, they added the provision 
that they be generously supplied with the necessities of life so 
that they would not be again reduced through poverty to the 
condition of servitude (Dt. 15 13-15 ) : 

When thou lettest him go free, thou shalt not let him go empty- 
handed; rather thou shalt furnish him liberally from thy flock, 
and thy threshing-floor, and thy winepress; according as Jehovah 
thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give to him. And thou 
shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and 
that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee; therefore I now command 
thee to do this thing. 

It is important to note that the generous giving that is urged 
is not charity which pauperises the recipient, but a just recom- 
pense for services rendered. The social principle here operative 
is not that of force and might, but of justice and brotherhood 
and love. As elaborated by the later prophets and Jesus, this is 
the only principle that will solve the problem of domestic ser- 
vice that looms so large in many modern homes. 

Political and Civil Regulations: Obligations of Rulers. 
The democratic principles for which Ahijah and Elijah con- 
tended are definitely incorporated in the Deuteronomic codes. 



94 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

The entire intent of this legislation is in favour of the common 
citizen. The king is the free choice of the people (Dt. 17 14> 15 ). 
He is enjoined to be content with a modest revenue and court 
and not to amass private wealth (Dt. 17 16 ' 17 ). Above all, he 
must rule humbly and faithfully in accord with the democratic 
principles laid down in Deuteronomy 17 18 - 20 : 

And when he sitteth upon his kingly throne he shall write for 
himself in a book a copy of this law which is in the charge of the 
Levitical priests; and he shall have it always with him, and he 
shall read in it daily as long as he lives, that he may learn to fear 
Jehovah his God, to take heed to observe all the words of this law 
and these statutes, that his heart be not lifted up above his kins- 
men, and that he turn aside from this command neither to the right 
nor to the left, in order that he and his descendants may continue 
long to rule in the midst of Israel. 

Duties of Judges. The rules for the guidance of judges are 
eternally applicable. Here the principles for which Amos and 
Hosea and Isaiah valiantly fought are writ into Judah's national 
code (Dt. I 17 ): 

Ye shall be impartial in judgment. Ye shall give equal hearing 
to the weak and strong. Ye shall not be afraid of any man, for 
the judgment is God's. 

The prophetic lawgivers were exceedingly strenuous in their 
condemnation of bribery, and their position is doubly significant 
because its background is the Semitic world in which nearly 
every private and public transaction was accompanied by a 
gift (Dt. 16 19b - 20 ): 

Thou shalt not take a bribe, for a bribe blindeth the eyes of 
the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous. Justice and 
only justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit 
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

They also placed bribery in the list of the twelve deadly 
social crimes that were to be denounced publicly by priests and 
people (Dt. 27 25 ). 



DUTIES OF WITNESSES 95 

Duties of Witnesses. The laws defining the responsibil- 
ities of witnesses in the public courts reveal an exceedingly 
high sense of justice. Their primary aim is to defend the ac- 
cused against unjust charges. The testimony of at least two 
witnesses is required to convict a man of any crime (Dt. 19 15 , 17 6 ). 
As in the code of Hammurabi, a false witness is punished by 
the same penalty that he sought to bring upon the accused. 
Here the lex talionis is especially fitting. It is an open ques- 
tion whether or not our modern usage is more just than the 
ancient law (Dt. 19 16 - 21 ) : 

If a malicious witness stand up against a man to accuse him 
of treason, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand 
before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who shall be 
officiating in those days; and the judges shall thoroughly investi- 
gate; and should it prove that the witness is a false witness, and 
hath testified falsely against his countryman, then shall ye do to 
him as he purposed to do to his fellow countryman; thus thou 
shalt purge away the evil from thy midst, that those who remain 
may heed and fear, and never again commit any such crime in 
thy midst. And thou shalt not show pity; life for life, eye for 
eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 

Public Education in Religion and Morals. The practical 
prophetic spirit and aim of the authors of the Deuteronomic 
codes is further revealed by the emphasis which they placed 
upon public education. They provided that the laws of the 
land should be made easily accessible to every citizen. To 
this end they directed that they should be inscribed on plas- 
tered stones set up in a central place (Dt. 27 1 - 4 - 8 ). Also they 
directed that at fixed times the law should be publicly read 
to the people (Dt. 31 10 " 13 ): 

And Moses gave them this command: 'At the end of seven 
years, in the year fixed for the release, at the feast of tabernacles, 
when all Israel come to see the face of Jehovah your God in the 
place which he shall choose, you shall read this law aloud before 
all Israel. Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the 
children, as well as the aliens who reside within your city, that they 



96 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

may hear, and learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and faithfully 
follow all the words of this law, and that their children who have 
not known may hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God as long as 
ye live in the land which ye are going over the Jordan to possess.* 

Economic Regulations: The Ownership of Property. 

The Deuteronomic lawgivers were keenly alive to the fact that 
social welfare to a great extent depends upon economic con- 
ditions. A large number of their laws, therefore, aim to elim- 
inate existing economic evils. They believed in the private 
ownership of property, and protected it by the laws against 
stealing (Dt. 5 19 ) and against moving the landmarks or bound- 
ary-stones (Dt. 19 14 ). This treacherous form of theft was placed 
in the list of the most reprehensible social crimes (Dt. 27 17 ). 

At the same time the Deuteronomic lawgivers recognised 
that each man had a certain common right in the natural 
products of the soil. The way in which they maintained the 
balance between private and public rights is exceedingly in- 
teresting (Dt. 23 24 « 25 ): 

When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard thou mayest 
eat of grapes to thy fill at thine own pleasure, but thou shalt not 
put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into thy neighbour's 
standing grain, thou mayest gather the heads with thy hand, but 
thou shalt not put a sickle to thy neighbour's standing grain. 

They also taught in concrete terms the principle that each 
man is under obligation to respect society's rights in the com- 
mon natural sources of wealth and not to destroy the source 
of supply (Dt. 22 6 - 7 ): 

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree 
or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and with the mother 
sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the 
mother with the young. Thou shalt surely let the mother go, but 
the young thou mayest take for thyself, that it may be well with 
thee and that thou mayest live long. 

Responsibilities of Employers of Labour. The oldest 
labour legislation known to history is found in the code of 



RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMPLOYERS 97 

Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.)- That paternal despot sought 
by law to fix the wages of different classes of labourers. The 
first laws, however, that aim to protect the rights of the manual 
labourer are found in the Deuteronomic codes. They assert 
the principles that all subsequent labour legislation has simply 
sought to apply equitably and specifically. The first law limits 
not the hours but the days of labour and seeks to insure needed 
rest even to slaves. Here we have the true prophetic interpre- 
tation of the significance of the Sabbath : it is not a ceremonial 
but a social institution (Dt. 5 13-15 ): 

Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh 
day is a sabbath to Jehovah thy God; in it thou shalt do no work, 
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy male or female slave, 
nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the alien who 
resideth within thy city, that thy male and female slave may rest 
as well as thou. Thou shalt also remember that thou wast a slave 
in the land of Egypt and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out 
from there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore 
Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. 

The Deuteronomic lawgivers laid upon employers the solemn 
obligation not to exploit their employees. They also strongly 
emphasised the importance of the prompt payment of wages. 
They suggested no penalty for failure to observe these laws, 
but they appealed on the one side to the feeling of human 
brotherhood and on the other to self-interest and the fear of 
divine judgment (Dt. 24 14 » 15 ): 

Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, 
whether he be of thy own race, or of the resident aliens who are 
in thy land within thy city. On the same day thou shalt pay him 
his wages before the sun goeth down, for he is poor, and setteth 
his heart upon it; and let him not cry against thee to Jehovah, 
and thou be guilty of a crime. 

Measures for the Prevention of Poverty. The prophetic 
authors of Deuteronomy thoroughly believed that "an ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure." They were also 



98 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

well aware of the evils of poverty. One of their chief en- 
deavours was to prevent poverty by removing its causes. 
Many of the fundamental methods which they suggest are 
practically applicable in all stages of civilisation. Certain of 
the gravest economic evils of the present age have been due 
to our failure to appreciate the principles laid down by these 
early but enlightened social investigators and reformers. Sev- 
eral of the laws already considered were formulated in order 
to prevent poverty. By securing justice in the public courts 
for poor and rich, for the weak and strong alike, they eliminated 
one of the fertile causes of poverty in both the ancient and 
modern world. By preventing the exploiting of the manual- 
labouring class by their employers they were striking at what 
still remains one of the leading reasons why, in this age of 
plenty, millions of human beings live on the verge of poverty 
or belong to the submerged class. The same economic aims 
underlie the laws which forbade rulers to amass private wealth 
or to adopt policies that would tend to pauperise their subjects. 
The humane regulations regarding the taking of pledges belong 
to the same class. Each was intended to guard against inflict- 
ing unnecessary hardship on the unfortunate and also to pre- 
vent those who were trembling on the brink of poverty from 
being pushed over the abyss (Dt. 24 6> 10 - 13 ): 

No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, 
for thereby he taketh a man's life as a pledge. When thou lendest 
thy neighbour any kind of loan, thou shalt not go into his house 
to take a pledge from him. Thou shalt stand without, and the 
man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge to thee. 
In the case of a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge; 
thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge at sunset, that he may 
sleep in his garment, and bless thee; thus thou wilt be counted 
righteous before Jehovah thy God. 

The desire to eliminate poverty explains the seemingly im- 
practicable enactment (Dt. 23 19 « 20 ): 

Thou shalt not lend on interest to thy fellow countryman, — 
interest on money, on food, or on anything that is lent on inter- 



THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY 99 

est . . . that Jehovah may bless thee in all that thou under- 
takest to do. 

In Judah in the seventh century before Christ loans were 
rarely, if ever, made in order to launch commercial enter- 
prises. Instead, they were made to the man who had suffered 
some misfortune in order to save him or his children from 
slavery, which was the penalty for unpaid debt. The rate of 
interest in the ancient East was usually exorbitant. Hence, if 
insisted upon it hastened the economic ruin of the debtor. In 
many cases, however, a loan without interest tided the unfor- 
tunate through his period of stress and at the same time pre- 
served his self-respect without pauperising him, as a direct 
gift might have done. 

In their zeal to right economic inequalities the lawgivers 
went farther and declared (Dt. 15 1-3 ): 

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 
And this is the nature of the release: every creditor shall remit 
that which he hath lent to his neighbour; he shall not exact it of 
his neighbour or fellow countryman, because Jehovah's release hath 
been proclaimed. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it; but 
whatever of thine is with thy fellow countryman, let thy hand 
release it. 

Here the law of brotherhood is pressed to its fullest extreme. 
A modern critic would call this law socialistic. The lawgivers 
themselves feared that it might defeat its own end. They 
therefore made a powerful appeal to the sympathies and racial 
loyalty of their countrymen (Dt. 15 7-11 ) : 

If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy fellow countrymen, 
in any of thy cities in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth 
thee, thou shalt not be hardhearted, nor shut thy hand from thy 
poor brother; but thou shalt surely open thy hand to him, and 
shalt lend him sufficient for his need as he wanteth. Beware lest 
this base thought come in thy heart, ' The seventh year, the year 
of release, is at hand,' and thou turn a deaf ear to thy poor brother, 
and thou give him nothing, and he cry to Jehovah against thee, 
and thou be guilty of a crime. Thou shalt surely give to him, and 



100 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

thy heart shall not be sad when thou givest to him, because for 
this Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all 
that thou undertakest to do. For the poor will never cease to 
be in the land; therefore I command thee, 'Thou shalt surely open 
thy hand to thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor in thy land.' 

The older law of Exodus 23 10, u provided that on the sev- 
enth year all the land should lie fallow and every Hebrew 
should be allowed to gather whatever it produced: 

Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in its in- 
crease. The seventh year thou shalt let the land rest and lie 
fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave 
the wild beasts shall eat. In like manner thou shalt do with thy 
vineyard and thine oliveyard. 

Here the right of every man to share in the natural resources 
of the earth is boldly asserted. Not as a gift nor as the result of 
another's labour, but as the fruit of his own efforts the man is 
given an opportunity to recoup his fortunes. The detailed plan 
is not practicable in our modern highly developed civilisation. 
It is not certain that it was ever rigidly carried out in Judah. 
The thirty-fourth chapter of Jeremiah indicates that the law 
of the seventh year of release was disregarded in the days im- 
mediately preceding the fall of Jerusalem. But the under- 
lying principle, radical though it is, is well worthy of considera- 
tion when ninety per cent of a nation's vast wealth is hoarded 
in the hands of approximately one-fortieth of its population, 
while millions are herded together under living conditions that 
are morally and physically destructive of both character and life. 

The same strenuous endeavour to prevent poverty and to 
give every man an opportunity to preserve his self-respect and 
to win a livelihood by his own labour underlies the law regard- 
ing the gleanings (Dt. 24 19-22 ) : 

When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten 
a sheaf in thy field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shall be 
for the resident alien, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that 
Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. 



THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY 101 

When thou beatest thy olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the 
boughs again; it shall be for the resident alien, for the fatherless, 
and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vine- 
yard, thou shalt not glean it after thee; it shall be for the resident 
alien, for the fatherless, and the widow. Thou shalt remember 
that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command 
thee to do this thing. 

In their active campaign against poverty the Deuteronomic 
lawgivers did not stop with external measures. They sagely 
advised their fellow countrymen to avoid all loans which would 
put them under the power of foreigners (Dt. 1 5 6b ) : 

Thou shalt lend to many nations but thou shalt not borrow. 

They encouraged honesty and industry and the fundamental 
moral virtues which are essential to the material prosperity of 
the individual and of the state. With superb optimism and 
conviction they declared that if the people proved loyal to these 
laws and ideals, poverty should indeed be banished from the 
land (Dt. 15 4 - 5 ): 

Nevertheless there shall be no poor with thee, for Jehovah will 
surely bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee 
to possess as an inheritance, if only thou diligently hearken to the 
voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all these commands 
which I command thee this day. 

Measures for the Alleviation of Poverty. The Deu- 
teronomic lawgivers nowhere encourage indiscriminate giving. 
Their silence is significant. Their whole emphasis was on 
constructive rather than merely remedial charity. They set 
their ideal that "there shall be no poor with thee" in the fore- 
front. The one measure which provided for direct giving was 
carefully guarded so that it could not be abused nor pauperise 
those whom it sought to benefit. One-thirtieth of every man's 
income was turned over to the local authorities of his village or 
city and was stored up to be used by them to supply the press- 
ing needs of those who had no regular income (Dt. 14 28 « 29 , 
26 13 ): 



102 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

At the end of every three years thou shalt bring out all the tithe 
of thine increase in that year and shalt deposit it within thy city. 
That the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with 
thee, and the resident alien, and the fatherless, and the widow, 
who are in thy city, may come and eat and be satisfied, in order 
that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work to which 
thou puttest thy hand. And thou shalt say before Jehovah thy 
God, 'I have put away the consecrated things out of my house, 
and have also given them to the Levite, and to the resident alien, 
to the fatherless and to the widow, just as thou hast commanded 
me; I have not transgressed any of thy commands, neither have 
I forgotten them.' 

The Characteristics of the Social Citizen. In the deca- 
logue of Deuteronomy 5 14-21 and in the public liturgy of Deu- 
teronomy 27 17 - 24 every son of Israel is solemnly warned against 
committing the supremely unsocial crimes of murder, adultery, 
incest, theft, and bearing false testimony. A fine social idealism 
underlies the grim curses of Deuteronomy 27 18 « 19 : 

Cursed be the one who maketh the blind wander out of the way. 
And all the people shall say, ' So may it be.' Cursed be the one 
who perverteth the justice due the resident alien, fatherless, and 
widow. And all the people shall say, ' So may it be.' 

The truly social citizen is not only generous but considerate 
of the feelings of his neighbour (Dt. 24 10 > n ). Moreover, he 
is ever on the alert to guard against anything that will en- 
danger the life of his fellow men (Dt. 22 8 ) : 

When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet 
for thy roof that thou bring not blood upon thy house, in case 
any man should fall from it. 

This law sets forth clearly and concisely the principle which 
in its modern application has found expression in the building, 
sanitary, and factory legislation that is one of the most hope- 
ful indications of progress in our present civilisation. 



THE SOCIAL CITIZEN 103 

According to the Deuteronomic lawgivers, love is the crown- 
ing characteristic of the social citizen. Although a later law- 
giver (Lev. 19 18b ) first formulated the command, 

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, 

the prophets who wrote Deuteronomy faithfully applied this 
principle. The author of Leviticus 19 18b had simply in mind 
his fellow Israelites. The Deuteronomic lawgivers went even 
farther, for they laid down the noble command (Dt. 10 19 ) : 

Love the resident alien. 

They also recognised that love to man would be but a flicker- 
ing flame if it was not inspired by a dominating love and loyalty 
toward God. Hence they repeatedly proclaimed that this love 
was the crowning characteristic of a social citizen (Dt. 6 5 , cf. 
IV): 

Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with 
all thy soul and with all thy might. 

Love meant service, and to serve God was, in the thought of 
these experienced prophets, to make the principles of social 
justice and service which they had endeavoured to formulate 
the guide in every thought and act (Dt. 10 12 ): 

And now Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee 
but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love 
him and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with 
all thy soul ? 

The Completeness of the Deuteronomic Social Code. 

Antiquity produced no other code of laws which in its complete- 
ness and lofty social idealism compares with that found in the 
book of Deuteronomy. Its underlying principles contribute to 
the solution of almost every problem of human society. Most 
of these principles are of far wider application than the specific 
cases with which they deal. They remain to-day the historic 



104 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY 

foundations of that which is finest in our modern social legis- 
lation. Many of the standards that they set up still await 
complete acceptance. No one can claim that they present a 
perfect social system. Jesus rejected their toleration of divorce 
(Mk. IO 3 - 5 ). Their teaching regarding war (Dt. 20) strikes 
a much lower level than do the standards maintained by 
Amos (Am. 1) and Nahum (Nah. 2, 3). The explanation is 
found in their hot zeal to stamp out the earlier Canaanite cults 
that had been perpetuated by the remnants of the older popula- 
tion of Palestine and during the reign of Manasseh had gained 
the ascendancy even in Judah. The bitterness begotten by 
cruel persecution had hardened the otherwise tender hearts of 
these Deuteronomic lawgivers, so that, in theory at least, they 
could countenance the wholesale slaughter of those whom they 
regarded as traitors to their race and religion. Humanity had 
to wait long centuries before the great Teacher of Nazareth 
uttered the revolutionary command: "Love your enemies.' ' 
At many points, however, the Deuteronomic codes anticipate 
the social teachings of Jesus. They mark a long advance to- 
ward the completion of that perfect social plan which was the 
culmination of more than twelve centuries of intense struggle 
and rich national experience. 



PART II 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE EXILIC AND 
POST-EXILIC PROPHETS AND SAGES 



X 

ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

Israel's New Outlook on Life. The final destruction of Je- 
rusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. inaugurated a new era in 
Israel's life and thought. The insistent social problems which 
had gathered about the pre-exilic Hebrew state had largely 
disappeared. The survivors of the Jewish race were widely 
scattered. The majority of the peasants and villagers still 
remained in Palestine, but they were disorganised and poverty- 
stricken, ground down by their foreign rulers, and the prey of 
their hostile neighbours. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem 
who had escaped the great catastrophe of 597 and 586 B.C. 
were settled as colonists in the heart of Babylonia, whither 
they had been carried captives by Nebuchadrezzar. Others 
had fled in great numbers to Egypt and were to be found liv- 
ing together in colonies in great cities such as Memphis and 
Elephantine. Not until the Maccabean era, late in the second 
century before Christ, did the Jews again enjoy an independent 
national life. The result was that they either lived largely 
in the past, proud of its glories and at the same time meditat- 
ing on its lessons, or else in the future, toward which they 
looked with hopes and aspirations that were ever kept alive 
by the faith and teachings of their prophets. It was during 
this period that out of the wreckage of the old Hebrew state 
the individual emerged and personal religion developed. 

The exile also vastly broadened Israel's horizon. It brought 
squarely before the attention of the scattered exiles the question 
of what should be their relation and what were their respon- 
sibilities to the heathen world that engulfed them. Medita- 
tion on the past experience of their nation and their unquench- 
able hopes for the future led certain of their prophets to set 

107 



108 ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

forth in positive and concrete terms the social and political 
principle which must govern the rulers of any age or nation 
if they are to build up a state which will endure. The social 
teachings of the post-exilic prophets and sages, therefore, rep- 
resent the mature ideals of their race. 

The Social Significance of the Messianic Prophecies. 
The so-called messianic prophecies of the Old Testament pre- 
sent many difficult problems to the biblical student. A care- 
ful study, however, makes it clear that the only way in which 
to understand and rightly estimate these glowing prophecies is 
to interpret them in the light of their original historical setting. 
Studied in this light, the majority of them prove to be not 
specific predictions but ideals concretely expressed. The com- 
plete realisation of any noble ideal necessarily lies in the future. 
The majority of the messianic prophecies are in reality social 
hopes set forth in the dramatic form of prayers or predictions. 
In one important respect they represent a distinct advance 
over the teachings of the pre-exilic prophets, for the ideals 
are put in positive rather than in negative form and are largely 
divested of their local associations. 

Thus interpreted, the Old Testament messianic prophecies 
are profoundly significant. They represent the highest aspira- 
tions not only of the Hebrew race but of the most enlightened 
citizens of the ancient world. They stand as goals to be at- 
tained. They are also vivid assurances that all the forces of 
the universe work with those who strive to realise the divine 
purpose in the life of mankind. They are akin to the noble 
aspirations which were the inspiration of many ancient peoples. 
Thus, for example, there comes from the days of the Twelfth 
Egyptian Dynasty (c. 1800 B.C.) the prediction of a certain 
native prophet, Ipuwer, who, after proclaiming that a. great 
disaster impends, in which the existing political and social or- 
ganisation will be overthrown, declares: 

A saviour will restore the land. He shall bring cooling to the 
flame. Men shall say, 'He is the shepherd of all the people; 
there is no evil in his heart.' If his flocks go astray, he will spend 
the day in search for them. The thought of men shall be aflame. 



THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES 109 

Would that he might achieve their rescue. Verily he will smite 
evil when he raises his arm against it. . . . Where is his day? 
Does he sleep among you ? 

Examples of this type of prophecy come from every period 
of Egyptian history down to the Christian era. Vergil's pre- 
diction of the golden age about to dawn (in his twelfth eclogue) 
is familiar to every classical student. 

A Prayer in Behalf of a Benign Ruler. In Psalm 72 the 
teachings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the kingly ideal of 
Deuteronomy 17 14 " 20 are set to music and in the form of a 
prayer put on the lips of the people. The benign reign of 
Josiah was evidently in the mind of the poet. In exquisite, 
poetic language it voices the eternal cry of the masses as they 
look to their rulers for justice and succour. It is a hymn in 
which the ancient Chinese social reformer Confucius would 
have heartily joined. This hymn embodies Israel's unique po- 
litical ideal of the kingship. It served better than occasional 
prophecies or even laws to keep this practical democratic ideal 
before both ruler and people. As it was chanted in the Jewish 
temple, rich and poor, rulers and ruled, united in voicing the 
great social principles that it sets forth in exquisite literary 
form: 

Grant the king thy justice, O Jehovah, 

And thy righteousness to the king's son. 

May he judge thy people in righteousness, 

And thine afflicted ones with justice. 

May the mountains bear peace to the people, 

And the hills bring forth righteousness. 

May he vindicate the afflicted among the people, 

May he help the sons of the needy. 

May he fear thee while the sun endureth, 

As long as the moon shineth, even forever. 

May he descend like rain upon the mown grass, 

Like rain-drops that water the earth. 

May righteousness flourish in his days, 

And abundant peace until the moon be no more. 

For he delivereth the needy who cry, 



110 ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

And the afflicted who have no helper. 

He hath pity on the poor and needy, 

And saveth the life of the poor. 

He saveth them from extortion and violence, 

And their life blood is precious in his sight, 

So they may live and give him of Sheba's gold, 

And pray for him continually, 

And bless him all the day long. 

The Portrait of the Prince of Peace. Ezekiel was ap- 
parently the father of the hope that Jehovah would again unite 
the survivors of Northern and Southern Israel, restore them to 
Palestine, and set over them a scion of the house of David 
(Ezek. 34 23 » 24 ;c/. 37 24 - 25 ): 

And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David. 
And he shall feed them and be their shepherd. I, Jehovah, will 
be their God and my servant David shall be prince over them. 
I, Jehovah, have spoken. 

Out of the gloom of exile comes another prediction, more 
poetic, more mysterious, and more exalted. Its background 
is the unspeakable woe wrought by war and conquest. It is a 
picture of the perfect and lasting peace to be inaugurated, not 
through a divine miracle, but through the activity of a ruler 
whose character and policy are the direct antithesis of those of 
Ahaz and Jehoiakim. The Hebrews appreciated the impor- 
tance of concise, vivid characterisation. The names which 
they gave to their kings and even to God described the im- 
portant traits and the character of each. Apparently, each 
new Hebrew king on his accession assumed a royal name. 
Thus, for example, Jedidiah, David's son, after mounting the 
throne was known as Solomon, a name derived from the He- 
brew word for peace. So, also, when Josiah's son Shallum 
mounted the throne he assumed the title Jehoahaz. His 
brother Eliakim, after his election as king, was known as 
Jehoiakim. In accordance with this custom the unknown 
prophet who penned the immortal poem in Isaiah 9 2-7 gives to 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE 111 

the young prince who is to bring peace and prosperity to the 
race a fourfold name. 

Each of these names is richly significant. "A wonder of a 
counsellor" describes his insight, his tact, and his marvellous 
skill in directing the policy of the state over which he is to 
rule. "A god of a hero" suggests the deeds of prowess of the 
knights of old who followed David during his outlaw period 
and helped him to build an empire. This title implies, how- 
ever, that this hero is to achieve far more than the knights of 
old who merely wielded the sword: he is to be divinely gifted 
and therefore invincible. The word "father" is apparently 
used much as we in America employ it to-day in describing our 
first President as a man who by his devotion and loyal self- 
sacrifice guarded and nurtured the young republic. The 
double title "Father of Eternity" implies that his fatherly 
care is not to be for the moment and intermittent but unceas- 
ing. The term "Prince of Peace" is the culmination of these 
titles. In its derivation and use the Hebrew word translated 
peace is far richer than our English equivalent. It is derived 
from the word meaning to be whole, complete, and therefore to 
be harmonious. It is from the same root as the Hebrew word 
used in ordinary greetings, which conveyed the idea not only 
of peace but of perfect well-being and prosperity. "Prince of 
Peace," therefore, described a ruler who by his wise counsel, 
his Godlike prowess, and his unceasing care and vigilance in 
behalf of his subjects would bring harmony and well-being to 
all members of his nation. The prophet believed that this 
ruler was to sit on a Hebrew throne and restore to Israel the 
territory once held by the great King David. It was not by 
might, however, but by justice and righteousness and by the 
help of Jehovah that he was to prevail and to establish a per- 
manent rule. 

It matters little whether the prophet had in mind the young 
Zerubbabel, who during the exile was born to the house of David 
and was later appointed by the Persians as governor of the 
Palestinian Jewish community, or some ruler to be born in the 
distant future. The abiding significance of this passage re- 



112 ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

mains the same: it is a proclamation of an era of peace and a 
noble expression of Israel's highest political ideals: 

Thou multipliest the exultation, thou makest great the rejoicing, 
They rejoice before thee as men rejoice at harvest time, 
As men are wont to exult when they divide spoil. 

For the burdensome yoke and the crossbar on his shoulder, 

The rod of his taskmaster, thou breakest as in the day of Midian. 

For every boot of the warrior with noisy tread, 

And every war-cloak drenched in the blood of the slain 

Will be completely burned up as fuel for the flame. 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, 

And dominion shall rest upon his shoulder; 

And his name shall be Wonderful Counsellor, 

Godlike Hero, Ever-watchful Father, Prince of Peace. 

To the increase of his rule and to peace there shall be no end, 

On the throne of David and throughout his kingdom, 

To establish and uphold it by justice and righteousness henceforth 

and forever. 
The zeal of Jehovah will accomplish this. 

The Ideal Ruler. Isaiah ll 1 - 10 contains a portrait of an 
ideal ruler that is closely parallel to the one just considered. 
Either the two passages come from the same writer or else the 
author of ll 1-10 is deliberately developing the outlines sug- 
gested by 9 2-7 . The historical background of both is evidently 
the Babylonian exile. The stock of Jesse, which represents the 
ruling house of Judah, has been levelled to the ground so that 
only a stump remains. From this stump, however, a shoot is 
to spring forth. This scion of the house of David is to be di- 
vinely gifted and to show himself a wonderful counsellor. 

A sprout shall spring from the stock of Jesse, 

And a shoot from his roots shall bear fruit. 

The spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, 

A spirit of wisdom and insight, 

A spirit of counsel and might, 

A spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah. 



THE IDEAL RULER 113 

In his zeal to administer justice and to judge the cause of the 
helpless he shall prove an everlasting father of his people. 

He will not judge according to what his eyes see, 
Nor decide according to what his ears hear; 
But with righteousness will he judge the helpless, 
And with equity will he decide for the needy in the land. 

His might and prowess as a divine hero will be shown not in 
ruthless foreign conquests but in denouncing all oppressors 
and in bringing the guilty to judgment. His weapon will not 
be a gory sword but his word of truth and justice. As he goes 
forth like a knight to deliver the oppressed he will be strength- 
ened by the consciousness that his cause is right and his motive 
sincere. The poet has here suggested the figure which Paul 
has so powerfully developed in Ephesians 6 10 ' 17 : 

He will smite an oppressor with the rod of his mouth, 
And with the breath of his lips will he slay the guilty. 
Righteousness will be the girdle about his loins, 
And faithfulness the band about his waist. 

With exuberant poetic imagery the prophet describes the 
reign of the Prince of Peace. Even the ravenous wild beasts 
are represented as being so influenced by his benign rule that 
they lose their natural instincts and live together in blissful 
harmony : 

Then the wolf will be the guest of the lamb, 
And the leopard will lie down with the kid; 
The calf and the young lion will graze together, 
And a little child will be their leader. 
The cow and the bear will become friends, 
Their young ones will lie down together, 
And the lion will eat straw like the ox; 
The suckling will play about the hole of the asp, 
And the weaned child will stretch out his hand toward the viper's 
nest. 

The supreme achievement of his beneficent reign is that 
men will cease to prey upon their fellow men and all will be in- 



114 ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

spired by that intimate knowledge of Jehovah which hitherto 
had been Israel's peculiar possession. This descendant of the 
house of David shall attract to his standards many peoples. 
They shall come, not compelled by his victorious sword, but 
voluntarily seeking the peace and security which his wise and 
just rule insures: 

Men shall not harm nor destroy 

In all my holy mountain; 

For the earth shall have been filled with knowledge of Jehovah 

As the waters cover the sea. 

And it shall come to pass in that day, 

That the root of Jesse who is to stand as a signal to the peoples — 

To him shall the nations resort, 

And his resting-place shall be glorious. 

The Ideal State of the Future. Only a citizen of the demo- 
cratic house of Israel, with a prophet's faith in the future 
of society, could have painted the picture of the ideal state in 
Isaiah 32 1 - 6 . Unlike the authors of the preceding passages, he 
apparently had no specific ruler in mind, but is simply por- 
traying the type of ruler who will bring health and healing to 
society. He still thinks of rulers as kings and princes, but he 
breathes the spirit of true democracy. What a man is and 
does is, in his mind, the sole claim to nobility. Terms and 
forms of government may change, but the principle of true 
democracy is the same throughout the ages. The ideal which 
is here set forth is eternal: 

Behold, a king shall reign righteously, 

And princes rule justly. 

Each shall be like a hiding-place from the wind, 

Like a covert from the driving storm, 

Like water courses in a parched place, 

Like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. 

The eyes of those who see shall not be closed, 
And the ears of those who hear shall hearken. 
The mind of the rash shall discern with judgment, 



THE IDEAL STATE 115 

The tongues of stammerers shall speak quickly and distinctly; 
No more shall the fool be called noble, 
Nor the knave be spoken of as princely. 

Psalm 101 contains one of the latest and noblest social utter- 
ances of the Old Testament. It is apparently the oath of office 
or vow which Simon, the Maccabean ruler, took when he 
became, by virtue of popular election, the governor, military 
commander, and high priest of the Jewish people. He it was 
of whom the author of I Maccabees 14 14 declares: 

He strengthened all the distressed of his people, 

He was full of zeal for the law, 

And eveiy lawless and wicked person he banished. 

The same author declares that he was chosen to be the leader 
of the people because of " the justice and faith which he showed 
to his nation, and because he sought by all means to exalt his 
people." 

The principles which this marvellous poem voices might well 
be incorporated in the oath of office of any modern ruler. It 
is doubly significant because the man who probably uttered it 
was one of the two or three rulers who, out of Israel's long 
history, realised in character and in policy the lofty yet prac- 
tical ideals which he thus dramatically sets forth in the pulsat- 
ing, emotional, five-beat measure of Hebrew poetry. Here the 
ardent social reformer is himself the ruler vested with full au- 
thority: 

Of mercy and justice will I sing to thee, O Jehovah, 

I will behave myself wisely and blamelessly. O when wilt thou 
come to me ? 

I will walk in uprightness of mind in the midst of my house, 

I will set before mine eyes nothing that is base. 

I hate an act of apostasy; it shall not cleave to me. 

A perverse purpose I will banish from me; I will know no evil. 

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbour, him will I cut off; 

Whoever has a high look and a proud heart, him will I not tol- 
erate. 



116 ISRAEL'S MATURE POLITICAL IDEALS 

Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may 

dwell with me; 
He who walks in an upright manner, that one shall serve me. 
He who practises deceit shall not dwell within my house; 
He who speaks falsehood shall not be established before mine 

eyes. 
Zealously will I destroy all the wicked of the land, 
That I may cut off from the city of Jehovah all who do evil. 



XI 

THE GROWTH OF ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 
TOWARD ALL NATIONS 

Influences That Enlarged Israel's Social Consciousness. 

The development of a missionary attitude toward the heathen 
world is one of the most remarkable achievements in Israel's 
remarkable history. From their nomadic ancestors the He- 
brews inherited an attitude of suspicion and hostility toward 
all outside their racial group. The bitter experiences of the 
centuries that immediately followed the destruction of the tem- 
ple were well calculated to intensify these feelings; and yet the 
marvel is that, as Israel's tragic history unfolds, the missionary 
note becomes clearer and stronger. It represents the superb 
flowering of the fine old Semitic institution of hospitality. A 
race which treasured among its most sacred inheritances the 
memory of Abraham's princely reception of the chance strangers 
could not remain forever insensible to its obligations to the 
hated heathen. Even before the exile the unknown author of 
the prophetic sections of the table of the nations in Genesis 
10 taught in concrete terms that the human race was one great 
family and that all nations were bound together by the bonds 
of blood kinship (cf. p. 34). With deeper insight Amos, the 
shepherd of Tekoa, declared as early as the middle of the eighth 
century before Christ that Jehovah not only ruled over but 
also cared for the heathen Arameans and Philistines even as 
he did for Israel. 

Unquestionably, the wide scattering of the Jewish exiles and 
refugees after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. was one 
of the great factors in enlarging their social consciousness. 
In Babylonia and Egypt they learned through personal contact 

117 



118 ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 

to appreciate the worth and piety even of the hated heathen. 
They also perceived clearly their spiritual and moral needs. 
Thoughtful Jews could not fail to see, even in the hour of their 
national degradation and woe, that their prophets had taught 
them truths and principles that were of universal application. 
As their belief that Jehovah was the one supreme God in all 
the universe developed, a new sense of responsibility came to 
them. When the old Hebrew states had fallen in ruin and 
there was little prospect of material glory for their nation, their 
racial pride and aspiration also led them to consider the pos- 
sibilities of moral and spiritual conquests. Above all, their 
expanding ideals led them to dream of a social order which 
would include not merely the members of their scattered race 
but the entire family of nations. Hence, of all the teachers of 
humanity, Israel's prophets first conceived the idea of a state 
which would comprise all the races of mankind, and of a loyalty 
to a common God so broad and all-embracing that it would 
bring together into one great brotherhood every people and 
nation. As they contemplated this universal social order, they 
at last fully appreciated the important role which Israel must 
play in establishing this world-wide kingdom of God. 

The Recognition of the Rights of Resident Aliens. The 
first step toward a recognition of the rights of foreign peoples 
was the opening of the door to aliens who sought refuge and a 
home in the land of Israel. Originally these had no legal status 
in the Hebrew commonwealth. The primitive code of Exodus 
22 21 warned the Hebrews against doing them any wrong. The 
codes of Deuteronomy, however, by the end of the seventh 
century before Christ, assured full justice and equality to all 
resident aliens. They were also invited to come and share all 
the religious privileges of the native-born Israelites (Dt. 16 u » 12 , 
26 11 ). Above all, the law in Deuteronomy 10 19 commanded 
the Hebrews to love the resident alien. In the Holiness Code 
of Leviticus 24 22 is found the comprehensive enactment: 

Ye shall have the same laws for the resident alien as for the 
native born. 



RIGHTS OF RESIDENT ALIENS 119 

The priestly law of Numbers 15 14, 1B also imposes upon the 
resident aliens the same obligations to keep Israel's ceremonial 
laws as rested upon the native-born Jews: 

If an alien reside among you, or if any one else be among you 
throughout your generation and wish to present an offering made 
by fire of an odour pleasing to Jehovah, as ye do, so shall he do. 
There shall be but one statute for the assembly, both for you and 
for the alien who resideth among you. A statute forever through- 
out your generation; ye and the resident alien shall both be alike 
before Jehovah. 

This law probably comes from the fourth century before 
Christ, when at last Judaism stood with open door ready to re- 
ceive within its ranks all foreigners who were willing to conform 
to its civil and ceremonial laws. 

The influences that had brought about this remarkable 
change of attitude were many and varied. The traditions of 
the old Semitic law of hospitality, which even in earliest times 
made the foreign guest, for a brief time at least, a member of 
the tribe which received him, were doubtless strengthened by 
the need which the Hebrews in hotly contested Palestine always 
felt for increased population. The chief influence, however, 
was their growing ethical and social consciousness. The fact 
often urged in the code of Deuteronomy, that they had once 
been resident aliens in the land of Egypt, undoubtedly was a 
constant and powerful force leading them to treat the aliens 
in their midst with justice and consideration and to extend 
to them the full privileges of the community. This consider- 
ate attitude toward aliens within their ranks in turn modified 
their attitude toward those outside. The humiliating, heart- 
breaking experiences that came to them during the four cen- 
turies following the destruction of the temple also broke down 
their national pride and awakened their sympathies. 

The Open Door to the Heathen World. In the years 
immediately after the Babylonian exile the attitude of the Jews 
of Palestine toward foreigners was more liberal than that of 
the Jews of the dispersion. When Nehemiah in 444 B.C. re- 



120 ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 

turned to Jerusalem from distant Susa he felt compelled to 
close the open door not only to the heathen but also to the 
Samaritan kinsmen of the Jews (Neh. 2 20 , 13 28 ). But the 
prophet Zechariah, who in 520 B.C. co-operated with Haggai in 
inspiring the Jewish community to rebuild the temple, voices 
the more tolerant attitude of the Palestinian Jews. In the 
hour of Jerusalem's humiliation he confidently proclaimed that 
it would yet be, what it has at least historically become, the 
Mecca of many races. His bold declaration was prompted by 
his unbounded faith in Jehovah's love for his people and in 
the superiority of their religion (Zech. 8 20-23 ) : 

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 'Peoples and the inhabitants of 
many cities shall come, and the inhabitants of one city shall go 
to another, saying, "Let us go speedily to entreat the favour of 
Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts; I will go also." ' Yea, 
many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of 
hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of Jehovah. Thus 
saith Jehovah of hosts: 'In those days ten men shall take hold 
out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the 
skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, "We will go with you, for we 
have heard that God is with you." ' 

From the middle or the latter part of the Persian period comes 
a noble reassertion of Zechariah's broad platform. The un- 
known prophet who uttered it recognised that he was going 
contrary to the strong tide of public opinion, for he declares 
(Is. 56 3 ): 

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to Jehovah say: 
'Surely Jehovah will separate me from his people.' 

Boldly the prophet declares in the name of Jehovah (Is. 
56 6 - 8 ): ' 

The foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah to minister to him, 
And to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, 
Every one who keeps the sabbath so as not to pollute it and faith- 
fully abides by my covenant, 



OPEN DOOR TO THE HEATHEN 121 

Them will I bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my 

house of prayer; 
Their burnt-offerings and sacrifices will be accepted upon my altar; 
For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, 
It is the oracle of Jehovah, who gathereth the outcasts of Israel, 
'I will gather still others to him in addition to those already 

gathered/ 

Zechariah's epoch-making teaching is gloriously expanded in 
the exquisite picture of universal peace and loyalty to Israel's 
God that is found both in Micah 4 1 - 4 and Isaiah 2 1 - 4 : 

It shall come to pass in the latter days 

That the mountain of Jehovah will be established, 

Even the house of our God on the top of the mountains; 

And it shall be lifted above the hills. 

All the nations shall flow to it, 

And many peoples shall go and say, 

'Come, let us go up to Jehovah's mount, 

To the house of the God of Jacob, 

That he may instruct us in his ways, 

And that we may walk in his paths. 

For from Zion proceeds instruction, * 

And Jehovah's word from Jerusalem/ 

He will arbitrate between many peoples, 

And render decisions for strong nations; 

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, 

And their spears into pruning hooks; •/ 

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 

Neither shall they learn war any more. 

They shall dwell each under his vine, 

And under his fig-tree, with none to terrify them; 

For the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken. 

Not under compulsion but voluntarily the nations of the 
earth are represented as coming to pay homage to Jehovah 
and to learn how they may walk in his ways. It is one of the 
most brilliant Old Testament descriptions of the kingdom of 
God. True to Israel's educational ideals, Jehovah is pictured 
as the great Teacher, instructing the peoples that come stream- 



122 ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 

ing up to Jerusalem. When nations submit their disputes to 
the divine tribunal, peace, wide-spread and lasting, is the in- 
evitable result. The poet has here pictured a social condition 
which has held the enraptured gaze of every prophetic soul 
throughout the succeeding ages. 

Israel's Mission to the Heathen. The inspired teachings 
found in Isaiah 40 to 66 broadened still further Israel's social 
consciousness and led it far toward the Christian conception 
of a united human family bound together simply by loyalty to a 
common Father: 

For his teaching the coast-lands are waiting. 

The noble-minded Jews in the Ghettos of Egypt and Baby- 
lonia and in impoverished, war-swept Palestine were those 
whom the prophet hoped would bear the teachings and law of 
Jehovah to all nations and to all lands. He saw on the distant 
horizon of the future the day when the rule of God would 
be forever and universally established in the minds of men 
(Is. 51 4 ' 5 ): 

Hearken to me, O my people, 

And give ear to me, O my nation: 

For from me teachings shall go forth, 

And my law suddenly as a light to the people. 

My triumph is near, my salvation shall go forth, 

Mine arm shall rule the peoples, 

For me the coast-lands wait. 

The Universality of Jehovah's Rule. The most unequiv- 
ocal statement of the universality of Jehovah's rule is found 
in the appendix to the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah. The 
reference in the nineteenth verse, " to the day when there shall 
be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of 
Canaan and swearing allegiance to Jehovah," indicates that 
this appendix was added at least after the destruction of Jeru- 
salem in 586 B.C. The tolerance and breadth which this pas- 
sage reveals strongly suggest that it comes from an era not 



JEHOVAH'S UNIVERSAL RULE 123 

earlier than the Persian period. It anticipates the day when 
the heathen nations would not merely come to worship Jehovah 
at Jerusalem, but when in their own land Egypt and Assyria, 
which in the earlier days had stood respectively for the friendly 
and hostile heathen world, would unite to worship Israel's 
God. The language in which this comprehensive missionary 
ideal is expressed lies on the border-line between poetry and 
prose. There are abundant suggestions of that balanced par- 
allelism which was the fundamental characteristic of Hebrew 
poetry. And yet as the passage reads in the Hebrew it must 
be classified as prose, not poetry (Is. 19 21 « 2 s- 25 ): 

Jehovah will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians 
will know Jehovah in that day and will worship with sacrifice and 
oblation and will vow vows to Jehovah and perform them. In 
that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; and 
Assyria will come to Egypt and Egypt to Assyria, and the Egyp- 
tians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will 
form a third part with Egypt and Assyria — a blessing in the midst 
of the earth, which Jehovah hath blessed, saying: 'Blessed be my 
people, Egypt and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, 
mine inheritance.' 

If the prophet lived in the Greek period, Assyria represented 
in his mind its lineal descendant, the Syrian kingdom, which 
was already beginning to struggle with Egypt for the suprem- 
acy of Palestine. The marvel is that the prophet was able to 
mount on the wings of faith above the din of war and hostile 
conflict and to picture the day when Israel would join with her 
hereditary foes in the devoted worship of their common God. 
Here at last the Old Testament missionary ideal has com- 
pletely conquered all race prejudices and has become uni- 
versal. 

The Psalmists' Vision of the Kingdom of God. The 
psalmists caught up this conception of Jehovah's universal 
rule and set it to music and taught the Jewish people to sing it. 
It is the dominant idea in Psalms 96 to 100. In Psalm 96 1 - 3 
the poet cries out in ecstasy: 



124 ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 

Oh sing to Jehovah a new song; 

Sing to Jehovah, all the earth. 

Sing to Jehovah, bless his name, 

Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. 

Declare his glory among the nations, 

His marvellous deeds among all the peoples. 

He summons all nations to join the Jews in the great pro- 
cession of the worshippers, whom in imagination he sees come 
sweeping into the temple, chanting Jehovah's praises (Ps. 96 7-10 ) : 

Ascribe to Jehovah, ye families of the peoples, 
Ascribe to Jehovah glory and strength, 
Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due his name; 
Bring an offering, and come into his courts; 
Oh worship the Lord Jehovah in holy array, 
Dance before him, all the earth. 
Say among the nations, 'Jehovah reigneth; 
He it is who will judge the peoples with equity/ 

These songs proclaim that Jehovah's rule or kingdom means 
happiness for all mankind, for it is founded on the eternal prin- 
ciples of justice (Ps. 97 x » 2 ): 

Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice, 
Let the many coast-lands be glad. 
Clouds and darkness are about him, 
Righteousness is the foundation of his throne. 

The prophetic and the missionary note are nobly blended in 
the appendix to the pathetic twenty-second psalm (Ps. 22 27 " 30 ): 

All the ends of the earth will remember and will turn to Jehovah, 
And all the families of the nations will worship in his presence; 
For the dominion belongs to Jehovah and he rules over the nations. 
Verily, him alone will all the prosperous of the earth worship. 
Before him all those about to go down to the dust will bow. 
A seed will serve him, it will be told to a generation to come; 
And they will declare his righteousness that he hath accomplished 
to a people yet to be born. 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD 125 

These exalted hymns of praise and adoration are as far re- 
moved from the grim prophecies and imprecatory psalms that 
proclaim the universal destruction of the heathen as the east 
is from the west. 

Israel's Realisation of Its Missionary Ideal. The unknown 
prophet who sometime in the Greek period wrote down the 
graphic story of Jonah was keenly alive to the glaring incon- 
sistencies in later Judaism. Being a skilled literary artist, he 
chose to caricature them and to make them so ridiculous that 
even the Jews themselves would laugh at them. To accomplish 
his purpose he, like Jesus, employed the short story. The hero 
of this ancient Oriental tale was not lacking in courage and 
zeal, but he was hopelessly narrow-minded and intolerant. A 
few noble Jews of the dispersion were guided by the mission- 
ary ideals of the earlier prophets and did valiant work; but 
Jonah represents the many who, during the fourth and third 
centuries before Christ, like the author of the book of Esther, 
contemplated with exultation the wholesale slaughter of the 
heathen. He was even ready to defy Jehovah and risk his 
own life that his nation's foes, the guilty Ninevites, might be 
utterly destroyed. In contrast to the heathen sailors, who 
did all in their power to save this ill-starred Jew, he was a 
sorry figure. Later he bitterly complained to Jehovah, not 
only because the sun was allowed to beat down upon his un- 
worthy head, but chiefly because the common Father of man- 
kind had listened to the prayers of the repentant Ninevites 
(Jonah 4 1 - 5 ): 

But it displeased Jonah greatly, and he was angry. And he 
prayed to Jehovah, and said, 'Ah now, Jehovah, was not this 
what I said when I was yet in mine own country? Therefore 
I hastened to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a God 
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love, and 
relenting of evil. Therefore, O Jehovah, take now, I beseech 
thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live !' 
And Jehovah said, ' Doest thou well to be angry ? ' Then Jonah 
went out of the city, and sat down before the city, and there 
made him a booth, and sat under it, until he might see what 
would become of the city. 



126 ISRAEL'S MISSIONARY ATTITUDE 

The figure which Jonah presents is as ludicrous as it is pathetic. 
The normally minded men in every age laugh at it, as the author 
intended they should. He is both ludicrous and pathetic be- 
cause he completely lacks the true missionary spirit. A narrow, 
selfish, racial patriotism has so blinded his eyes that he pet- 
ulantly finds fault with a God who cares for the great city, 
heathen though it be, 

in which there are a hundred and twenty thousand human 
beings who know not their right hand from their left; besides 
much cattle ! 

In the ancient story Jonah, the incarnation of misguided, in- 
tolerant Judaism, brings out by contrast the true missionary 
attitude, which is represented by Jehovah himself. It is the 
same missionary spirit which inspired the later Jewish proselyt- 
ing movement and fired the early Christians with love for all 
men and zeal to save even the most despised. It is the same 
broad missionary ideal that is again taking possession of the 
minds of the leaders of Christendom. Under its influence 
they are beginning to recognise that all the world is but one 
great missionary field. It is gradually kindling a divine love 
which glows not merely when they seek to satisfy the needs of 
the distant heathen, but also when they face the crying needs 
of the great city at their door. It is the natural corrective of 
the false attitude of the narrow-minded patriots whose mis- 
guided zeal threatens to bring dire calamity upon both them- 
selves and society. This missionary spirit, inherited from the 
great prophets and Jesus, promises to-day to prove the supreme 
solvent of society's gravest political and social problems. 



XII 

THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL OF SOCIAL 
SERVICE 

The Historical Background of the Second Isaiah. The 

painful and discouraging centuries that followed the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. witnessed the rise of the two 
greatest poets and interpreters of life that ancient Israel has 
given to the world. The one is the author of the poem of Job. 
The other is an unknown prophet, designated to-day as Second 
Isaiah because his immortal prophecies have been appended 
to those of the earlier statesman-prophet Isaiah. From this 
anonymous prophet comes the successive series of poems found 
in Isaiah 40 to 55. In all probability from the same great soul, 
but from a later period in his life, come those found in Isaiah 
56 to. 66. Into these poems he has woven the rich results of 
his own and his nation's experience. During the years of 
distress and ignominy, when the Jews were helpless in the hands 
of their heathen conquerors, the experiences through which 
they then passed were sufficient to break the spirit and daunt 
the most courageous. Their faith in Jehovah's justice and love 
was strained to the point of breaking. Their capital city and 
temple lay in ruins. Even though in 520 B.C., through the in- 
spiring sermons of Haggai and Zechariah, the ancient sanctu- 
ary was restored, disaster and disappointment continued to 
fall heavily upon the few faithful members of the poor, strug- 
gling Jewish community. The great majority of the Jews whose 
fathers had been carried to Babylon or had sought refuge in 
Egypt remained in the lands of the exile and contributed little 
to the revival of their nation's life. It is on this discouraging 
background that the immortal songs of the Second Isaiah find 
their natural setting. 

127 



128 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

The Prophet's Aims. The opening words of his prophecy 
(Is. 40 la ), 

Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith Jehovah, 

reveal one of his primary aims. It was to dispel the haunt- 
ing doubts which beset all thoughtful Jews, to bind up their 
wounds, and to give to them encouragement and hope (Is. 42 22 ) : 

A people spoiled and plundered ! 

They are all snared in holes, 

And hidden in prison houses, 

They have become a spoil, with none to rescue, 

An object of plunder, with none to say, 'Restore.' 

His second aim was to interpret their past and present history 
as a people, so that they would appreciate its significance and 
realise that all that had come to them was but the necessary 
training for a great, divine service. His third aim was to hold 
up before them an ideal of service so lofty and yet so practical 
that they would both lose and find themselves in performing it. 
He further aimed to show them that the bitter shame and the 
cruel suffering of the present, instead of being an evidence, as 
was popularly believed, of divine displeasure, if nobly borne 
possessed an eternal redemptive power. Finally, he was en- 
deavouring to arouse the latent loyalty of the scattered exiles, 
and to fill them with such a burning zeal for service that many 
of them would give up their homes and opportunities for ease 
and luxury in Babylonia and Egypt and come back to help re- 
store the struggling, poverty-stricken Jewish community, and 
thus again give Israel a place and a voice among the nations. 

The Prophet's Interpretation of Israel's Destiny. Ear- 
lier patriots and prophets had held up before their race the 
promises of material prosperity and glory. They had firmly 
believed that by virtue of their moral superiority they were 
destined to conquer and to rule over the less enlightened na- 
tions. Through all the years the majority of the people had 
waited expectantly for the time when Jehovah would re- 



ISRAEL'S DESTINY 129 

deem the promises that had been associated with the name of 
Abraham and the forefathers of their race. In the terms of 
the old Balaam oracle they believed that (Num. 24 8 ) 

God, who brought Israel forth out of Egypt, 
Is for him like the strength of the wild ox. 
He shall devour the nations, his adversaries, 
And shall break their bones in pieces, 
And shatter his oppressors. 

A larger vision of Jehovah's character, a more intimate ac- 
quaintance with the character and aspirations of the heathen 
nations, and a developed social consciousness had led the un- 
known author of Isaiah 40 to 55 to see clearly the utter vanity 
of these material hopes. In the light of his own and Israel's 
enlarged experience, he declared that his race was called to 
suffer and to serve, and through suffering and service to con- 
quer gloriously. Its weapons were not the iron sword, but 
truth and love and service, which are alone invincible. Hence 
all the painful, soul-testing experiences through which it was 
passing were but a part of its training to fit it to perform an 
immortal service for Jehovah and for mankind. Israel's des- 
tiny, therefore, was to be Jehovah's prophet and apostle to 
the nations; in the performance of this supreme service it was 
to realise its highest national aspirations. 

The Character of the Servant Whom Jehovah Needed to 
Realise His Purpose. The Second Isaiah appealed to his 
race as a whole; but he was fully aware that the majority were 
both deaf and blind to the truths which experience had taught 
and which he was seeking to interpret (Is. 42 19 » 20 ): 

Who is blind but my servants, 

And as deaf as their rulers ? 

Much have they seen, without observing it. 

Though your ears were open, ye did not hear. 

The prophet hoped that his appeal would at least find a re- 
sponse in the minds of the more receptive. Repeatedly he 
cries out (Is. 51 7 ): 



130 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

Hearken to me, ye who know what is right, 
Ye people in whose heart is my teaching. 
Fear not the insults of mere men, 
Nor be frightened by their revilings ! 

The prophet saw that he must reach the nation through the 
mind and conscience of the individual. This fact doubtless 
explains in part why, in portraying the type of servant that 
Jehovah required at this critical moment in human history, 
the portrait is so distinctly individual. Sometimes he identifies 
the servant with the entire nation (Is. 41 8 » 9 ): 

And thou, Israel, my servant, 

Jacob, whom I have chosen, 

Offspring of Abraham, my friend, 

Thou whom I brought from the ends of the earth, 

And called from its most distant parts, 

To whom I said, 'Thou art my servant/ 

I have chosen and have not rejected thee. 

Ordinarily the servant acts and speaks as an individual. 
In the four so-called servant passages the prophet endeavours 
by means of a composite picture to set forth clearly the task, 
the essential characteristics, and the method of the servant 
which Jehovah requires to accomplish his divine purpose. 
The ideal applies equally to the nation as a whole and to the 
individual. It is by no means clear that the Second Isaiah had 
in mind an actual person. Undoubtedly the unwearied, self- 
sacrificing devotion of the prophet Jeremiah to his race was in 
the background of the prophet's consciousness. In the Judean 
community there were probably individuals whose experience, 
like that of the Second Isaiah himself, contributed to the crys- 
tallising of his ideal of the perfect servant of Jehovah. The 
term servant or slave of Jehovah was carefully chosen. Pur- 
posely the prophet avoids the earlier term messiah or anointed, 
for it was associated in the popular mind with the pre-exilic He- 
brew kings, who had betrayed their solemn trust and proved 
faithless servants of Jehovah. The term slave was employed 



CHARACTER OF JEHOVAH'S SERVANT 131 

because it possessed a very different content in the old Hebrew 
life from that which it has gained in more recent days. As has 
already been noted, the Hebrew slave was not the mere chattel 
of his master, but as a rule each was bound to the other by 
strong affection and loyalty. The slave was absolutely devoted 
to the interests of his master. His sense of complete depen- 
dence only intensified his zeal faithfully to carry 'out in every 
detail his master's will. Also in the language of Semitic diplo- 
macy the word slave or servant was the symbol of intelligent, 
willing, and complete devotion. Vassal kings constantly used 
it in protesting their loyalty to their overlords. ■ 

In a series of concrete pictures the prophet portrays the 
characteristics of the faithful servant of Jehovah. He is pa- 
tient, receptive, persistent, and tireless. He is ready to under- 
go long and painful training, and to make any sacrifice needful 
to perform for Jehovah and human society the great task in- 
trusted to him. He is supremely heroic, and his heroism is 
all the more significant because it is the heroism of the com- 
monplace and lacks the inspiration of public approval. He is 
not a mere passive character, but is fired by righteous indigna- 
tion in the presence of deliberate wrong, and is capable of ener- 
getic action. In Isaiah 50 8 » •» the prophet dramatically makes 
the servant declare: 

He is near who justifieth me, who will contend with me ? Let us 

stand up together ! 
Who is the adversary to oppose my cause? Let him draw near 

to me I 
Behold, the Lord Jehovah is my helper; who is he that can harm 

me? 

At the same time the servant is tender and considerate to- 
ward the weak. In these marvellous passages the Second Isa- 
iah holds up before the eyes of his countrymen and of the hu- 
man race the portrait of a prophet, a teacher, a martyr, a 
saviour of men, and a creator of a new humanity. 

The Training of Jehovah's Loyal Servant. In Isaiah 50 4 - 5 
the servant of Jehovah describes the way in which he was 



132 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

trained for his task. Into this description the Second Isaiah 
has undoubtedly put much of his own experience and that of 
his loyal countrymen in that age which tested men's souls. 
That Jehovah's servant may teach others he must first become 
a faithful disciple, eagerly and patiently learning the lessons 
that his divine Teacher sees fit to teach him: 

The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of a trained disciple. 

To give to the fainting a word of help, he waketh me early, 

Early he waketh me, that I may listen as a disciple. 

The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, 

And I have not been wilful nor turned back rebelliously. 

He must also learn to endure unflinchingly insult and unjust 
persecution, assured that in the end his divine Master will 
vindicate and reward him, and that the sacrifice is necessary if 
he is to accomplish the great task intrusted to him (Is. 50 6 » 7 ) : 

My back I gave to smiters and my cheek to those who plucked 

the beard, 
My face I hid not from insult and spitting, 
For my Lord Jehovah is my helper, so that I am not confounded. 
Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall 

not be put to shame. 

The prophet's object in thus describing the training of the true 
servant of Jehovah is revealed in Isaiah 50 10 . It is that every 
God-fearing Jew who is passing through the school of affliction 
might appreciate the true significance of that experience: 

Who among you fears Jehovah? Let him hearken to the voice 

of his servant. 
Who walks in darkness, having no light? 
Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rely on his God. 

The Task and Methods of Jehovah's Loyal Servant. 

The prophet endeavours to make exceedingly clear the nature 
and importance of the task that Jehovah wishes his loyal ser- 
vant to accomplish. The first great need in the prophet's day 



TASK OF JEHOVAH'S SERVANT 133 

was the restoration of his scattered people to Palestine. It 
was a worthy task for a faithful follower of Jehovah, and one 
which Nehemiah in a large measure accomplished. The ad- 
dress in Isaiah 49 7 - 9 is a startlingly exact description of the work 
of that loyal cup-bearer, who, through his devoted and untiring 
services, restored the desolate heritages and inspired new hope 
in the minds of his countrymen: 

Thus saith Jehovah, 

The Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, 

To him who is heartily despised, 

To the one abhorred of the people, a servant of rulers: 

'Kings shall see and arise, 

Princes and they shall do homage, 

Because of Jehovah who is faithful, 

The Holy One of Israel who hath chosen thee.' 

Thus saith Jehovah, 

'In a time of favour I answer thee, 

And in a day of deliverance I help thee, 

And I make thee a pledge to the people, 

To raise up the [ruined] land, 

To reapportion the desolate heritages, 

Saying to those who are bound, "Go forth," 

To those in darkness, "Show yourselves I" ' 

The same noble service is described in Isaiah 42 6 - 7 , in which 
Jehovah is represented as addressing his servant: 

I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, 

I have taken thee by the hand and kept thee, 

I have made thee a pledge to the people, a light to the nations, 

To open eyes that are blind, 

To bring captives out from confinement, 

From the prison house dwellers in darkness. 

In 61 1 - 3 the prophet apparently identifies his work with that 
of the servant of Jehovah, thereby proclaiming that he felt 
that, in uttering his message of comfort and inspiration, he 
was proving himself to be a loyal servant of the Highest: 



134 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, 

Because Jehovah hath anointed me, 

He hath sent me to bring good tidings to the afflicted, 

To bind up the broken-hearted, 

To proclaim liberty to the captives, 

And release to those bound, 

To proclaim the year of Jehovah's favour, 

And the day of vengeance of our God; 

To comfort all who mourn, 

To give them a head-dress instead of ashes, 

Oil of joy instead of a garment of mourning, 

A song of praise instead of a crushed spirit. 

With inspired insight the prophet recognises that the work 
of Jehovah's servant is not restricted to Israel. In 49 5> fl he 
makes the ideal servant, whom he is depicting before the eyes of 
his afflicted countrymen, proclaim this fact: 

And now, thus saith Jehovah 

(He who formed me from birth to be his servant, 

To bring Jacob back to him, 

And that Israel might be gathered to him; 

For I was honoured in the sight of Jehovah, 

And my God became my strength) : 

' It is too little a thing to be my servant, 

To raise up the tribes of Jacob, 

And to restore the survivors of Israel; 

Therefore I will make thee the light of the nations, 

That thy salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.' 

He is divinely commissioned to teach the nations the truths 
intrusted to him (Is. 42 1 ) : 

Behold, my servant whom I uphold, 
My chosen, in whom I take delight; 
I have put my spirit upon him, 
That he may set forth law to the nations. 

His methods are not those of the destructive conqueror, but 
those of a loving, sympathetic teacher (Is. 42 2-4 ) : 



METHODS OF JEHOVAH'S SERVANT 135 

He will not cry aloud nor roar, 

Nor let his voice be heard in the street. 

A crushed reed he will not break, 

And a dimly burning wick he will not quench. 

Faithfully will he set forth law; 

He will not lose vigour nor be crushed 

Until he establish law in the earth; 

And for his teaching the coast-lands are waiting. 

His field is world-wide. Although they know it not, even 
the most distant races of the earth are waiting expectantly for 
the message of liberty and life which the trained servant of 
Jehovah is alone able to proclaim. 

The Invincible Character of Voluntary Self-Sacrifice. The 
Second Isaiah threw more light on the baffling problem of the 
suffering of the righteous than did any poet or philosopher be- 
fore the Christian era. In the immortal stanzas of Isaiah 52 13 to 
53 12 he declares that he who would perform the highest service 
for a sinful world must indeed suffer, but that the self-denial 
and the voluntary suffering of the righteous in behalf of the 
ignorant and the fallen are often the only forces that will awaken 
and save them. These alone are invincible. They alone bring 
to those who gladly make the sacrifice the gratitude of a saved 
humanity, which is the highest honour that man can confer. 
To-day the devoted teacher, the faithful pastor, the intrepid 
social reformer, and the self-sacrificing settlement worker all 
bear testimony to these fundamental truths. 

In Isaiah 52 13 - 15 Jehovah first proclaims the significance of 
the self-sacrificing work of his servant: 

Behold, my servant shall prosper, 

He shall be raised up and highly exalted. 

Even as many were appalled at him, 

So shall many nations tremble; 

Kings will close their mouths before him, 

When what has not been told them they see, 

And what they have not heard they perceive. 



136 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

Next his contemporaries bear belated testimony to the im- 
portance of the servant's work (Is. 53 U2b > 3 - 6 ): 

Who believed what has been reported to us, 

And to whom was Jehovah's might revealed ? 

For he grew up before us as a young shoot, 

And as a root out of dry ground. 

He was despised and forsaken of men, 

A man of suffering and acquainted with sickness: 

Like one for whom men hide their face, 

He was despised so that we esteemed him not. 

Surely our sickness he himself bore, 

And our sufferings — he carried them, 

Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, 

Smitten of God and afflicted. 

But he was wounded for our transgressions, 

Crushed because of our iniquities; 

The chastisement for our wellbeing was upon him, 

And through his stripes healing came to us. 

Then the prophet adds his testimony (Is. 53 10 » llb ): 

Yet Jehovah was pleased to crush him; 

Through giving himself as an offering for guilt, 

He shall see posterity and length of days, 

And the pleasure of Jehovah will be realised in his hands; 

Out of his own suffering he shall see light, 

He shall be satisfied with his knowledge. 

In conclusion Jehovah proclaims his servant conqueror (Is. 
53110-12). 

My righteous servant shall make many righteous, 
And himself will bear the burden of their iniquities. 
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, 

And with the strong shall he divide spoil, 

Because he poured out his life-blood, 

And was numbered with transgressors, 

And himself bore the sins of many, 

And interposed for transgressors. 



VOLUNTARY SELF-SACRIFICE 137 

The self-sacrifice of the ideal servant of Jehovah is not an 
end in itself but only the way in which he attains complete 
self-realisation and achieves his mission. 

The Realisation of the Ideal of the Servant of Jehovah. 
The Second Isaiah held up an ideal of service so lofty and many- 
sided that it contains a personal appeal to all men of all na- 
tions. The faithful Jews who endured injustice at the hands 
of their heathen neighbours and rulers, and taunts and insults 
from the mercenary, apostate leaders of the Judean commu- 
nity, by their endurance and fidelity kept alive the religious life 
of Judaism, and thereby performed an inestimable service for 
Jehovah and for humanity. It is probable that the deputation 
which went from Jerusalem to the distant capital of the Persian 
Empire bore in their hands a copy of the poems of the Second 
Isaiah. In the prayer which the young Nehemiah uttered 
soon after their arrival (Neh. I 5-11 ) the word servant occurs 
eight times in seven verses, suggesting that he was inspired by 
the prophet's clarion call to service. In responding to this call 
Nehemiah proved not only a restorer of Jerusalem but also a 
deliverer of those who were either under the bondage of their 
oppressors or of their own selfish impulses. In his vivid mem- 
oirs he tells us of how he found the common people ground 
down and enslaved by their rapacious rulers. Fired by divine 
zeal, Nehemiah's mouth indeed proved "like a sharp sword" 
(Is. 49 2 ). Layman though he was, he rose to the height of a 
great prophetic reformer. In his memoir he graphically de- 
scribes his work (Neh. 5 6-13 )*. 

Then I was very angry when I heard their complaint and these 
statements. And I took counsel with myself, and contended with 
the nobles and rulers, and said to them, 'You exact usury each of 
his brother.' And I held a great assembly against them. And I 
said to them, 'We ourselves have, according to our ability, re- 
deemed our fellow countrymen the Jews, who have been sold to 
the heathen; and would you yourselves sell your fellow country- 
men, and should they sell themselves to us?' Then they were 
silent and could not find a word to say. Therefore I said, 'The 
thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in 



138 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL 

the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our 
enemies? For I also, my kinsmen and my servants, lend them 
money and grain. Let us, therefore, leave off this usury. Re- 
store to them this day their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, 
and their houses, also the usury of the money and of the grain, of 
the new wine, and of the oil, that you exact from them/ 

Then they said, 'We will restore them and will demand noth- 
ing from them; we will do just as you say.* Then I called the 
priests and took an oath of them, that they would do according 
to this promise. Also I shook out the fold of my garment, and 
said, 'So may God shake out every man from his house and from 
the fruit of his labour, who does not fulfil this promise; even thus 
may he be shaken out and emptied.' And all the assembly said, 
'So may it be/ And they praised Jehovah. And the people did 
according to this promise. 

Judas Maccabeus also in the hour of his nation's dire distress 
proved a valiant servant of Jehovah, and secured for his race 
its religious and political liberty. 

It was natural that the early Christians should regard every 
Old Testament promise and ideal as a prediction of the work 
and character of Jesus. Certainly no other Old Testament 
prophecy anticipates so fully the aims and the work and the 
methods of the great Teacher and Saviour of men as that of the 
Second Isaiah. In Jesus alone this ideal found its complete 
realisation. And yet it is not a specific prediction. Many of 
its details do not apply exactly to Jesus (cf. the description of 
the sickness of the suffering servant in 53 2 - 4 ) ; although in gen- 
eral the points of likeness are exceedingly close. Undoubtedly 
this ideal exerted a powerful influence upon Jesus' own thought 
and action. It was to him a challenge, even as it was to Paul, 
who in Acts 13 47 quotes Isaiah 49 6 and declares: 

This is the Lord's command to us: 

1 1 have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, 

To bring salvation to the end of the earth/ 

Paul was undoubtedly right in recognising that these eternal 
ideals of service are not limited to any one generation or in- 



REALISATION OF THE IDEAL 139 

dividual, but are a constant appeal to every man who would be 
a loyal follower of the God who is seeking to realise his gracious 
purpose in human society and in the life of the individual. 
They are a call to patient, persistent, devoted effort to uplift 
and transform humanity. They demand a service which is 
both voluntary and satisfying to him who offers it — a service 
which represents the highest self-expression of the true servant 
of Jehovah. 

The Service That Is Alone Acceptable to Jehovah. In the 
dialogue between Jehovah and his people, found in Isaiah 
58 3c - 10 , the prophet, in face of that increasing trend toward 
ceremonialism which was chilling the heart of Judaism, tries 
to make very clear the essential demands of religion. It is a 
homely, practical application of the same social principles that 
are so gloriously set forth in the portrait of the perfect servant 
of Jehovah: 

Behold, on your fast day ye follow your own pleasure, 

And ye exact all money lent on pledge. 

Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, 

And to smite the poor with the fist. 

Your fasting to-day is not such 

As to make your voice heard on high. 

Can such be the fast which I choose, 

A day when a man mortifies himself? 

To droop one's head like a bulrush, 

And to lie down in sackcloth and ashes? 

Wilt thou call this a fast, 

And a day acceptable to Jehovah? 

Is not this the fast that I choose: 

To loose the fetters of injustice, 

To untie the bands of violence, 

To set free those who are crushed, 

To tear apart every yoke ? 

Is it not to share thy bread with the hungry, 

And to bring the wanderers to thy home ? 

When thou seest the naked, to cover him, 

And not hide thyself from thine own flesh ? 

Then shall thy light break forth as the dawn, 

Thy restoration quickly spring forth, 



140 THE SECOND ISAIAH'S IDEAL " 

And thy righteousness shall go before thee; 
The glory of Jehovah shall be thy reward. 
Then, when thou callest, Jehovah will answer, 
When thou criest out, he will say, 'Here am I.' 

Here the prophet breaks completely with the pretentious, 
false type of religious faith which trusted to fasting and cere- 
monial rites to win the favour of God and at the same time 
ignored the claims of social justice. He has no sympathy with 
the ascetic, moping type of piety. He calls for a stalwart, 
kinetic faith that expresses itself in positive acts of social ser- 
vice. The perfect happiness and well-being both of society 
and of the individual servant are its fruits. He declares in 
fearless terms that the true servant of Jehovah is an upbuilder 
and that his reward is the superlative joy which comes not 
only from complete self-realisation but also from the conscious- 
ness of doing the will of God in human society. 



XIII 

THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

The Interest of the Wise in Social Questions. During 
the latter part of the Persian and especially during the Greek 
period the Jewish wise men or sages to a great extent took the 
place of the prophets. They accepted and applied to the 
problems of the individual the principles set forth by those 
earlier social teachers of the race. While the wise were pri- 
marily interested in the individual, they recognised that he 
could not attain his greatest happiness and well-being unless 
he learned to do his part as a member of society. Hence, one 
of the chief aims of the wisdom teachers, as stated in Proverbs 
l 3 , was that 

Men may receive instruction in wise conduct, 
In righteousness, justice, and uprightness; 
That discretion may be given to the inexperienced, 
And to the young knowledge and a purpose. 

The wise also recognised that the happiness and welfare of 
the individual are to a great extent dependent upon social con- 
ditions. Hence they sought both to create a right social order 
and in so doing to conserve the best interests of the individual. 
Thus they anticipated Jesus in endeavouring to solve the prob- 
lems of society by first rearing up socially minded citizens. 
Like the great Teacher they also recognised that, in the ulti- 
mate analysis, the interests of society and of the individual are 
absolutely identical. In common with their forerunners the 
prophets, the wise sought to inculcate principles rather than to 
lay down detailed laws or to establish fixed institutions. They 
strove to make real the promise of Jeremiah 31 31-34 that each 

141 



142 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

man would not be obliged to ask another what were his relig- 
ious or social duties but would find the guiding principle in his 
own heart. In other words, they sought to develop and train 
the moral and social consciousness of each individual. 

The Rights and Duties of Husbands and Wives. The 
Jewish wise men were rigorous champions of sexual morality. 
They dealt very directly and frankly with what has ever proved 
a vexatious social problem. Their appeal was primarily to hu- 
man reason. They earnestly sought to prevent adultery and 
all forms of sexual immorality (Pr. 5 15 - «-*o): 

Drink wine out of your own cistern, 

And running water from your own well, 

That your fountain may be blessed. 

And rejoice in the wife of your youth, 

Let her breast satisfy you at all times, 

And be ever ravished with her love; 

For why should you, my son, be ravished with a stranger, 

And embrace the bosom of another woman? 

To-day this is still a tragically pertinent question. 

While the wise always emphasise the importance of fidelity 
in the marriage relations, they knew by experience as well as 
by observation how largely the happiness of the husband was 
dependent upon the character and conduct of the wife. Many 
of their proverbs are as amusing as they are pathetic (Pr. 21 9 ): 

It is better to dwell in the corner of a housetop 
Than with a quarrelsome woman in a large house ! 

It is interesting to note that another sage, who felt that this 
statement of the fact was inadequate, has added in the same 
chapter (Pr. 21 19 ): 

It is better to dwell in the wilderness 
Than with a quarrelsome or fretful woman I 

Ben Sira, the noble wise man who lived just before the be- 
ginning of the Maccabean struggle (200-170 B.C.), was ap- 



DUTIES OF WIVES 143 

preciative of both the feminine character and figure (Ben S. 
26 14 « 17 ): 

A silent woman is a gift from the Lord, 
And a well instructed soul is priceless. 
As a lamp shining on the holy candlestick 
So is the beauty of a face on a stately figure. 

The wise were keenly alive to the value of a worthy wife 
(Pr. 12 4 ): 

A good wife is a crown to her husband, 

But one who acts shamefully is as rottenness in his bones. 

Even more beautiful is Ben Sira's testimony (Ben S. 26 1-4 ) : 

A good wife — blessed is her husband I 

The number of his days is doubled. 

A worthy wife cherishes her husband, 

And he fulfils the years of his life in peace. 

A good wife is a good gift, 

She shall be given as a portion to him who fears God. 

Whether rich or poor his heart is cheerful, 

And his face is merry at all times. 

It is significant that the wise reserve for the concluding sec- 
tion of the book of Proverbs a brilliant picture of the ideal wife. 
It is interesting to note the virtues which they especially com- 
mend. She is faithful to her husband's interest, provides well 
for her family, and is sagacious in managing her business. It 
is evident from the description that the Hebrew wife enjoyed a 
large degree of independence, as well as the complete confidence 
of her husband. Like the modern woman, she was active in 
works of charity (Pr. 31 20 ): 

She stretches out her hand to the poor, 

And she reaches forth her hands to the needy. 

Not only does she provide well for the needs of her household, 
but, like the woman of to-day, she has her own opinion and is 



144 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

able to speak with authority on the vital questions of the hour 
(Pr.31*): 

She opens her mouth with wisdom, 
And kindly instruction is on her tongue. 

Such a woman is represented as enjoying not only the praise 
and esteem of her husband and children but also a noble repu- 
tation in the community. Even her husband shines with re- 
flected glory (Pr. 31 23 ): 

Her husband is known in the gates, 
When he sits among the elders of the land. 

Full liberty and opportunity are granted her (Pr. 31 30 « 81 ): 

Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, 
But a woman of intelligence shall be praised. 
Give her the credit for the work of her hand, 
And let her works praise her in the gates. 

It is unquestionably a noble portrait which is here presented, 
and faithfully reflects the remarkable degree of independence 
vouchsafed to Hebrew women in ancient days. It only lacks 
the touch of intellectual and social companionship and warm 
affection between husband and wife to make the picture com- 
plete. 

The Duties of Parents to Children. The wise men were 
the forerunners of the modern religious education movement. 
Their primary aim was so to train the individual in his earlier 
years that he might attain to complete and efficient manhood. 
They have aptly stated the fundamental principle of religious 
education in the proverb (Pr. 22 6 ) : 

Train a child in the way he should go, 

And even when he is old he will not depart from it. 

They threw the responsibility for the moral and religious 
culture of the child in his earlier years almost entirely upon the 



DUTIES OF PARENTS 145 

parents. The wise do not appear to have appealed directly to 
the individual before the age of ten or twelve. They sought to 
influence his earlier years simply by training his parents. Many 
of their proverbs have this practical purpose in view. They 
based their teachings on utilitarian as well as moral grounds 
(Pr. 29 17 ): 

Correct your son and he will be a comfort to you, 
Yea, he will give you delight. 

They believed thoroughly in vigorous discipline (Pr. 29 16 ): 

The rod and correction give wisdom, 

But a child left to himself brings disgrace on his mother. 

This proverb implies that in the earlier years the responsi- 
bility for the training of the child rested primarily with the 
mother. The responsibility for the more rigorous discipline of 
the son was thrown upon the father (Pr. 13 24 , 19 18 ) : 

He who spares the rod hates his son, 
But he who loves him chastises him. 
Chastise your son while there is still hope, 
And set not your heart on his destruction. 

Undoubtedly these proverbs are responsible for innumerable 
floggings in the past. Modern psychology and education are 
seriously questioning the practical value of this form of dis- 
cipline except in rare and extreme cases. Wise parents are 
substituting for the rod methods of discipline more humane and 
effective; but the fundamental principle for which the wise 
were contending remains (Pr. 27 5 ) : 

Better is open rebuke 
Than love that is hidden. 

Though the thought is expressed negatively, love is here 
given the pre-eminent place. It is a parental love, however, 
which is strong and unselfish enough, if need be, to find ex- 
pression in effective discipline. 



146 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

The wise also emphasise the responsibility of parents to 
leave a good inheritance to their children. To the value of 
wealth they were not blind, but they realised that there were 
still more valuable goods to be bequeathed (Pr. 13 22 , 17 6b , 20 7 ) : 

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, 

But the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous. 

The glory of children is their fathers. 

The righteous man who walks in his integrity, 

Blessed are his children after him ! 

The Duties of Children to Parents. The wise had much 
to say about the responsibilities of children to their parents. 
With remarkable beauty and force they here echo the teachings 
of the earlier prophets. It is evident from their proverbs that 
in that early day children were not always respectful or loyal 
to their parents (Pr. 20 20 , 19 26 ): 

Whoever curses his father or his mother — 

His lamp shall go out in blackest darkness. 

He who maltreats his father and chases away his mother 

Is a son who acts shamefully and disgracefully. 

They recognised that one of the most difficult and yet the 
most important lessons that youth has to learn is to receive 
parental discipline appreciatively (Pr. 13 1 , 23 22 ): 

The wise son loves instruction, 

But a scoffer listens not to rebuke. 

Listen to your father who begat you, 

And despise not your mother when she is old. 

With their marvellous knowledge of human nature the wise 
anticipated one of the chief dangers which threatened the 
Jewish youth. In that ancient society the authority and posi- 
tion of the father was safeguarded even to his declining years. 
He was the head of the family and the trustee of its wealth. 
The Semitic woman, however, early loses her beauty and her 
attractiveness, and her social position is not protected by cus- 



DUTIES OF CHILDREN 147 

torn. Hence, in many a Jewish family the supreme test of 
filial loyalty was consideration and respect for the mother. 
This truth is expressed in another proverb which was doubtless 
based not only upon keen observation but also upon profound 
experience (Pr. 15 20 ): 

A wise son makes a glad father, 
But a fool despises his mother. 

In another proverb the wise appeal to one of the strongest 
forces that hold the young in the path of rectitude, namely, 
loyalty to their parents and teachers in the hour of tempta- 
tion (Pr. 27 11 ): 

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, 
That I may answer him who reproaches me. 

Ben Sira, in the section (Ben S. 3 1 - 16 ) in which he discusses the 
duties of children to parents, sets forth five reasons why children 
should be loyal. The first is that "he who honours his father 
makes atonement for sin." The second is that "he will have 
joy in his own children." The third is that "his prayers will be 
heard." The fourth reason is transcribed from the appendix 
to the fifth commandment — "he will have length of days." 
The final reason urged is that "every blessing will overtake 
him." With tremendous earnestness and in these varied and 
striking ways the wise emphasise the truth that unselfish de- 
votion of parents to the interests of their children and the loy- 
alty of children to their parents are the stable foundations not 
only of individual happiness but of human society. 

The Rights and Duties of Masters and Servants. The 
wise have much to say about the relations of masters and ser- 
vants. Like the prophets and lawgivers, they almost always 
champion the cause of the weaker. The servant or slave was 
still regarded as a member of the Jewish family. In behalf of 
the slave as well as the master they declare (Pr. 29 21 ) : 

He who brings up a servant in luxury 
Will in the end bring trouble upon himself. 



148 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

At the same time they recognise that a faithful, efficient ser- 
vant deserves the highest and most practical honours that the 
family to which he is loyal can confer (Pr. 17 2 ) : 

A wise servant shall rule over a son who acts shamefully 
And shall share the inheritance among the brothers. 

Ben Sira hints at the wrongs that many servants in his day 
suffered. At the same time he espouses the cause of the op- 
pressed (Ben S. 7 20 - 21 ): 

Do not maltreat a servant who works faithfully, 
Nor a hired servant who gives his life for you. 
Love a wise servant as yourself; 
Do not defraud him of his liberty. 

The Rights and Duties of Rulers and Citizens. The 
point of view of the wise on political questions is that of the 
average well-to-do citizen. Their attitude toward their rulers 
is respectful but not slavish. Like the prophets, they were not 
blind to the defects of those in authority. Their aim is to hold 
up before kings and rulers ideals that will insure the well-being 
of society and the rights of the individual subject (Pr. 16 12 , 
29 14 ): 

It is an abominable thing for kings to do wrong, 

For the throne is established by righteousness. 

A king who judges the poor equitably, 

His throne will be established forever. 

The proverb writers also wisely remark (Pr. 25 5 ) : 

Take away the wicked from the king, 

And his throne is established in righteousness. 

On the other hand they rightly observed that (Pr. 29 12 « 4 ), 

If a ruler listens to falsehood, 

All his servants are wicked. 

A king by justice gives stability to a land, 

But he whose exactions are excessive, overthrows it. 



DUTIES OF RULERS 149 

Like Isaiah and the other prophets, the wise were keenly 
aware of the peril which threatened the land if its rulers were 
intemperate (Pr. 31 4 « 5 ): 

It is not for kings to drink wine, 
Nor for rulers to mix strong drink, 
Lest they drink and forget the law, 
And disregard the rights of the afflicted. 

In their exhortations to judges they present briefly and 
pointedly both the moral and the utilitarian reasons why im- 
partial justice should prevail (Pr. 28 21 ): 

To show partiality is not good, 

Nor that a man should do wrong for a piece of bread. 

In their exhortations addressed to the ordinary citizens the 
wise were eminently conservative (Pr. 24 21 « 22 ): 

My son, fear Jehovah and the king, 
Have nothing to do with revolutionists; 
For their calamity shall rise up suddenly, 
And who knows the end of their years? 

The following proverb well describes the role of the wise in 
public life (Pr. 29 8 ): 

Scornful men set a city aflame; 
But wise men turn away wrath. 

It is possible that the sage who wrote this proverb had in 
mind the counsels of the wise woman of Abel-beth-Maacah 
(recorded in II Sam. 20 14 ~ 22 ) which saved her city from destruc- 
tion when its citizens had rebelled against David and were 
being besieged by his commander Joab. Especially appropri- 
ate in this day of dawning social consciousness is the wise ob- 
servation (Pr. II 11 ): 

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted; 
But by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown. 



150 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

Man in His Legal Relations. The wise who taught by 
the city gate, where the ancient Hebrew courts were held, were 
intensely interested in legal questions and give many practical 
counsels to their fellow citizens (Pr. 24 28 ' 29 , 25 18 , 14 25 ): 

Be not a witness against your neighbour without cause, 

And do not deceive with your lips. 

Say not, 'I will do to him as he did to me, 

I will repay the man for his deed/ 

A man who bears false witness against his neighbour 

Is a maul, a sword, a sharp arrow. 

A true witness saves lives, 

But he who utters lies is a source of deception. 

The wise were well aware of the evils of suretyship both to 
the man who gave his bond and to the man who might thereby 
be tempted to betray the generosity of his friend. Although 
there must have been cases when their counsel seemed heart- 
less, the wise urged their followers (Pr. 22 26 » 27 ) : 

Be not of those who pledge themselves, 
Of those who are surety for debts. 
If you have not wherewith to pay, 
Your bed will be taken from under you. 

The wise had a horror of suretyship that was undoubtedly 
begotten by painful experience. They advised their disciples, 
if thus involved, to work incessantly for their release (Pr. 6 1>4 - 5 ) : 

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbour, 

If you have pledged yourself for a stranger, 

Go and importune your neighbour, 

Give no sleep to your eyes, 

Nor slumber to your eyelids. 

Deliver yourself as a gazelle from the snare, 

As a bird from the hands of the hunter. 

The wise advocated practical charity, but they evidently 
favoured a direct gift rather than giving a bond or any form of 



MAN IN HIS LEGAL RELATIONS 151 

suretyship which might affect not only the future prosperity 
and happiness of the giver but also those of his family. Ex- 
perience confirms the eminent wisdom of their counsel. For- 
tunately, modern bonding corporations make it possible for the 
socially minded citizen to avoid the snare which has been the 
undoing of many thousands and at the same time enable him 
by a direct loan, if need be, to help a friend or a fellow man in 
the hour of misfortune. 

The Responsibilities and Use of Wealth. The wise have 
much to say regarding wealth. They plainly declared that 
wealth unjustly acquired was a curse (Pr. 19 1 ) : 

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, 
Than he who is false in his speech, though rich. 

At the same time they were fully aware of the value of wealth, 
if honestly acquired. They recognised that it was one of the 
credentials of work well done (Pr. 22 4 ) : 

The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah 
Is riches, honour, and life. 

Ben Sira was even more outspoken (Ben S. 13 24 ) : 

Wealth is good, if it be without sin, 

And evil is poverty which is due to presumption. 

At the same time he declares (Ben S. 14 3 ) : 

To him who is small of heart wealth is unfitting, 
And why should the evil-intentioned have gold? 

The wise also pointed out the folly of making wealth the 
chief object of endeavour. Their advice in this respect is 
timely in all ages, for humanity is ever the same (Pr. 23 4, 6 ): 

Weary not yourself to become rich, 
Cease by the use of your own understanding. 
For riches take to themselves wings, 
Like an eagle that flies heavenward. 



152 SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE WISE 

Ben Sira anticipated Jesus in analysing the temptation to 
make wealth the chief object of a man's ambition (Ben S. 31 8 - 8 ) : 

Many are they who have bound themselves to gold, 
And have put their trust in corals. 
It is a stumbling block for the foolish, 
And whoever is simple is snared by it. 
Happy is the rich man who is found blameless, 
And who has not gone astray after mammon. 

It is probable that Jesus had this passage in Ben Sira in 
mind when he declared that a man cannot serve both God and 
mammon. Ben Sira recognised how difficult it was for a rich 
man to resist the insidious temptations of wealth (Ben S. 3 1 10 ): 

Who has been tested by it and remained unharmed, 
So that it has redounded to his glory? 

His question implies that a man thus tested and found 
faithful was rare indeed. Whoever did endure this test, he 
declared, was worthy of the praise of the congregation. 

The Evils and Prevention of Poverty. The wise were 
keenly alive to the evils of poverty. Like the modern sociolo- 
gists, they recognised that it was an unmitigated evil to those 
who are its victims (Pr. 10 15 , 19 7 ) : 

A rich man's wealth is his strong city; 
The destruction of the poor is their poverty. 
All a poor man's kinsmen hate him, 
How much more do his friends stand aloof 1 

The wise do not commend the action of a poor man's kinsmen 
and friends. They simply take human nature as it is. Their 
teaching is plainly addressed to the lazy and inefficient. The 
aim is to arouse their ambitions and energies and thus to keep 
them out of poverty. By preventive means they sought to 
deliver men from this evil. They recognised that faithful labour 
and diligence were the best preventives (Pr. 10 5 , 12 27 ) : 



THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY 153 

He who gathers in summer is a wise son, 

But he who sleeps in harvest time acts shamefully. 

A lazy man does not stir up his game, 

But a diligent man possesses wealth. 

One of their chief arguments against intemperance was eco- 
nomic (Pr. 23 20 - 21 ): 

Be not among those who drink wine to excess, 
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh; 
For the drunkard and the glutton come to poverty, 
Drowsiness clothes a man in rags. 

With a superlative wisdom begotten by insight and observa- 
tion the wise set before themselves and their disciples as the 
highest economic ideal the golden mean between poverty and 
extreme wealth. In one of the classic passages, which is echoed 
in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, they pray (Pr. 
30 7 - 9 ): 

Two things I ask of thee, 

Deny me them not before I die: 

Remove far from me deceit and lying, 

Give me neither poverty nor riches; 

Provide me with the food that I need, 

Lest I be full and deny thee, 

And say, ' Who is Jehovah ? ' 

Or lest I be poor and steal, 

And profane the name of my God. 



XIV 

THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN ACCORDING 

TO THE WISE 

The Characteristics That Make a Bad Neighbour and 
Citizen. The wise were working for a very definite and con- 
crete end. Out of the inexperienced youth who came under 
their influence they were endeavouring to develop good neigh- 
bours and citizens. This thoroughly constructive work was 
their great contribution to human society. They sought to 
attain their end by holding up before their disciples a variety 
of concrete pictures. On the one side they presented the 
composite portrait of the bad neighbour and citizen, that the 
young might note his characteristics and learn to avoid them. 
In contrast they drew a vivid picture of the good neighbour 
and citizen and of his contributions to society. Evil and temp- 
tation were so omnipresent and insistent that the wise were 
tempted to give a large proportion of their attention to the 
negative portrait. Many of their aphorisms are exceedingly 
brilliant and compel attention. Sometimes by ridicule, some- 
times by denunciation, and sometimes by simply depicting con- 
sequences they aimed to make evil loathsome. They pointed 
out that a lazy man was a burden to society (Pr. 10 26 ) : 

As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, 
So is a lazy man to those who send him. 

Equally unsocial and unwise is a censorious attitude toward 
one's fellow men (Pr. II 12 ): 

He who despises his neighbour is lacking in wisdom, 
But a man of discretion keeps silent. 
154 



THE BAD CITIZEN 155 

The disastrous effects of hatred, anger, and jealousy are 
clearly set forth (Pr. 10 12 , 15 18 , 27*): 

Hatred stirs up strifes, 

But love hides all transgressions. 

A wrathful man stirs up contention, 

But one who is slow to anger appeases strife. 

Wrath is ruthless and anger is destructive, 

But who is able to stand before jealousy? 

None appreciated more clearly than did the wise the futility 
of revenge. Their counsel is as sane as it is practical (Pr. 20 22 ) : 

Say not, 'I will revenge a wrong 1* 
Trust to Jehovah and he will save you. 

Ingratitude, they declared, will bring its own direful conse- 
quences (Pr. 17 13 ): 

Whoever returns evil for good, 
Evil shall not depart from his house. 

With great pedagogical skill they appealed to the sense of 
humour, to the good sense, and to the sense of honour, in order 
to deter their disciples from rushing into contention and strife 
(Pr. 20 s , 26 17 ' 21 ): 

It is an honour for a man to keep aloof from strife; 

But every fool shows his teeth ! 

He who meddles with a quarrel not his own 

Is like a passer-by who seizes a dog by the ears. 

As coals are to the embers and wood to fire 

So is a quarrelsome man to inflame strife. 

A profound experience and knowledge of human life lie back 
of the familiar proverb (Pr. 17 1 ) : 

Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith 
Than a house full of feasting and strife. 



156 THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN 

The wise also appreciate the fact that insincerity and flatter- 
ing words fetter men in their pursuit of high ideals, while 
friendly criticism speeds them toward their goal (Pr. 29 6 , 28 23 , 
12 19 ): 

A man who cajoles his neighbour 

Spreads a net for his steps. 

He who reproves will afterward find more favour 

Than he who flatters with the tongue. 

A faithful lip is established forever, 

But the lying tongue is but for a moment. 

The wise branded slander as one of the most unsocial of 
crimes (Pr. IP, 26 20 , 16 28 ): 

With his mouth the impious man destroys his neighbour, 

But by knowledge the righteous are delivered. 

Where there is no wood, the fire goes out, 

And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. 

A false man scatters discord abroad, 

And a whisperer separates intimate friends. 

The Fundamental Social Virtues. In their positive pic- 
ture of the good citizen and neighbour the wise interpreted into 
individual terms the social principles laid down by the earlier 
prophets. They echo the words of Amos and Hosea in the 
familiar proverb (Pr. 21 3 ) : 

To do what is just and right 

Is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice. 

They declared (Pr. 10 11 , 28 12 ) : 

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, 
But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 
When the righteous triumph, great is the glory, 
But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves. 

The importance and value of charity toward another's faults 
is strongly emphasised (Pr. 17 9 ) : 



FUNDAMENTAL SOCIAL VIRTUES 157 

He who covers up [another's] faults seeks to win love, 
But he who harps on a matter alienates his friend. 

Well did the wise appreciate the saving qualities of tact, 
guided by good will (Pr. 15 4 - \ 16 24 ): 

A soothing tongue is a tree of life, 

But violent words break the spirit. 

A soft answer turns away wrath, 

But a harsh word stirs up anger. 

Pleasant words are as honeycomb, 

Sweet to the soul and health to the bones. 

Noble indeed is the portrait which the wise present of the 
generous neighbour and friend (Pr. 12 26 , 3 27 « 88 , ll 35 ): 

The righteous is a guide to his neighbour, 

But the way of the wicked misleads them. 

Withhold not good from your neighbour 

When it is in your power to do it. 

Say not to your neighbour f Go and come again, 

And to-morrow I will give/ when you have it by you. 

The liberal man shall be prospered, 

And he who waters shall himself be watered. 

The following proverb indicates that a corner in the grain 
market is no new crime (Pr. II 26 ): 

He who withholds the grain, the people curse, 
But a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. 

To these fine lineaments are added the still finer qualities of 
love and mercy (Pr. 19 17 , 3 3 - 4 , 15 17 ): 

He who has pity upon the poor lends to Jehovah, 

And his good deed will repay him. 

Let not kindness and truth forsake you; 

Bind them about your neck. 

So shall you find favour and good repute 

In the sight of God and man. 

Better is a portion of herbs where love is, 

Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. 



158 THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN 

In the concluding touches which the proverb-writers added 
to their alluring portrait of the good neighbour and citizen 
they appeal both to the utilitarian motives and to the higher 
idealism of their disciples (Pr. 25 21 « M ): 

If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, 
And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; 
For you will heap coals of fire upon his head, 
And Jehovah will reward you. 

The Psalmists' Definition of the Qualifications of a 
Worthy Citizen. Israel's teachers knew well the value of 
setting their teachings to music. A majority of the hymns in 
the Old Testament Psalter come from those who were chiefly 
interested in the liturgical and devotional aspects of religion, so 
that the social note is not so prominent as in other Old Testa- 
ment writings. The majority of the psalms, however, were 
written to voice the gratitude or woes or aspirations of the com- 
munity. Many, like Psalms 48, 84, 87, 124, 126, and 129, 
breathe an intense patriotism. The element of social worship 
runs through all of them, but is especially marked in such psalms 
as 27, 36, 42, 65, and 122. This community of worship was the 
strongest bond that held together the scattered members of the 
Jewish race during the tragic centuries following the Babylo- 
nian exile. 

The psalmists also accepted the prophetic definition of re- 
ligion. Into the heart of the majestic twenty-fourth psalm a 
wise man and poet has injected the searching question (Ps. 24 8 ) : 

Who shall ascend the hill of Jehovah ? 
Who shall stand in his holy place ? 

To this vital question the psalmist himself replies (Ps. 24 4 ) : 

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, 
Who has not sworn falsely. 

Psalm 15 contains a detailed expansion of Psalm 24 3 - 4 . It 
also opens with the question: 



THE PSALMISTS' DEFINITION 159 

O Jehovah, who shall abide in thy tent ? 
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? 

The reply represents the psalmist's decalogue. In ten brief 
lines the essential qualifications of a true worshipper of Jehovah 
are clearly set forth (Ps. 15 2 - 5 ): 

He who walks without fault and does right, 

And speaks the truth in his heart, 

Who utters no slander with his tongue, 

Does no wrong to his friend, 

Nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour; 

In his eyes the reprobate is despised, 

But those who fear Jehovah he honours. 

He swears to his neighbour and changes not; 

He lends not his money for usury, 

Nor takes a bribe against the innocent. 

Upright conduct in daily life, sincerity in thought and pur- 
pose, refusal to give currency to any kind of slander, blameless 
dealing with friends, eagerness to silence all harsh or malicious 
charges against neighbours, a noble contempt for deliberate 
wrong-doers, high esteem and consideration for the loyal ser- 
vants of God, unswerving fidelity to each and every promise, 
readiness to lend money to the needy without interest, and a 
lofty sense of honour that refrains from taking a bribe — these 
are the qualities which are essential to the true worshipper of 
God to-day as of old. Truly did the psalmist declare that 

He who does these things shall never be moved. 

The Culminating Old Testament Portrait of a Social 
Citizen. The unknown but immortal author of the lyric 
drama of Job has given the crowning portrait of the social citi- 
zen in Job 29 and 31. Condemned by his dearest friends and 
seemingly by Jehovah himself, the hero of that great subjec- 
tive drama solemnly declares before God and man not only his 
innocence but also the positive character of his virtue. In the 
mind of the poet-sage who created this Promethean character 



160 THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN 

the essential test of true religion is not formal, legalistic piety 
but deeds and motives. He builds on the foundations laid by 
the earlier prophets and sages. By four centuries at least he 
anticipates many of the fundamental teachings of Jesus. Not 
boastingly, but with the same honest, open-minded attitude 
toward life that characterises the entire poem, Job is made to 
review his kindly acts and his knightly services in the days be- 
fore swift calamity smote him and nearly swept him from his 
moorings. Here we have the description of a Jewish knight 
whose spirit and achievements rival and even eclipse those of 
the most valiant champions of the needy and oppressed that 
mediaeval Christian history produced. It was not merely an 
ideal but an historic fact that Job proclaimed when he de- 
clared (Job29 n - 17 ): 

When the ear heard, then it blessed me; 

When the eye saw, it gave witness to me, 

Because I delivered the poor who cried, 

The fatherless also, who had none to help him. 

The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me, 

And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 

I put on righteousness and it clothed me; 

My justice was as a robe and a turban. 

I was eyes to the blind, 

And feet was I to the lame. 

I, indeed, was a father to the needy, 

And the cause which I knew not I searched out. 

And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, 

And plucked the prey out of his teeth. 

In Job 31 is found the oath of clearance, by which, in keeping 
with the custom of the ancient Hebrew law-courts, a man un- 
justly arraigned was able by an appeal to God to establish his 
innocence. Having been misjudged by his friends, Job turns 
as a last refuge to the God who is at the same time his Adversary, 
his Judge, and his Vindicator. The implication in the oath of 
clearance is that, if every assertion is not true, Jehovah him- 
self will speedily punish and in superlative measure. In many 
ways, therefore, this chapter represents the culmination of the 



THE CULMINATING PORTRAIT 161 

great poem of Job. In this dramatic form the author has ex- 
pressed his lofty yet practical social idealism. Passionately 
Job protests (Job 31 5 « 6 ): 

If I have walked with falsehood, 
And my foot has hastened to deceit, 
Let me be weighed on a just balance, 
That God may know my integrity. 

Then he declares in general terms the purity of his purpose 
as well as of his life (Job 31 7 « 8 ): 

If my step has turned out of the way, 
And my heart followed my inclination, 
Or if any spot besmirches my hands; 
Then let me sow and let another eat, 
And let the produce of my field be uprooted. 

In the next stanza he asserts that he is free from all social 
immorality, either in act or thought (Job 31 9-12 ): 

If my heart has been enticed unto a woman, 
If I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door; 
Then let my wife grind for another, 
And let others bow down upon her; 
For that is a heinous crime, 
Yea, it is guilt to be punished by the judges; 
For it is a fire that consumes even unto the grave, 
And burns up all my increase. 

In this stanza Job reflects the Oriental conception of the po- 
sition of woman. But a wife does not become another man's 
slave unless her husband, her natural protector, has suffered 
even a worse fate. Nowhere in the Old Testament are the 
deadly effects of illicit passion, not only upon him who enter- 
tains it but upon all who are dependent upon him, more strik- 
ingly depicted. 

The poet next sets forth man's primary duty in his domestic 
relations. He recognises the infinite worth of every personality, 



162 THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN 

however low in the social ladder the individual may stand. 
To each Job concedes certain inalienable rights, and protests 
that even in the case of his household slaves he has never dis- 
regarded those rights. The underlying reason is because they 
are both sons of a common Father. Here, certainly, is the es- 
sence of democracy in its purest form (Job 31 18 " 15 ): 

If I have despised the cause of my man-servant, 
Or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me, 
What then shall I do when God taketh vengeance? 
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 
Did not he who made me in the womb make him? 
And were we not fashioned in one womb ? 

In the mind of this superb social citizen the poor and the de- 
fenseless are his kinsmen with whom he shares his last morsel. 
He exemplifies the Golden Rule centuries before it was for- 
mulated. Nothing is more abhorrent to him than the thought 
of using his influence with the judges, who sat at the city 
gate, to take advantage of the innocent man who had no friend 
at court (Job 31 16 « 17 > 19 " 22 ): 

If I have denied the poor their desire, 

Or have disappointed the hopes of the widow, 

Or have eaten my morsel alone, 

So that the fatherless has not eaten thereof; 

If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, 

Or because the needy have no covering; 

If his loins have not blessed me, 

And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 

If I have lifted my hands against the blameless, 

Because I saw my help in the gate; 

Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, 

And my arm be broken from the bone. 

The force which holds him true to the highest social ideal is 
his unswerving faith in the justice of the God who rules the 
universe. Job has firmly grasped the truth that it is as fool- 
ish to disregard moral as it is natural laws (Job 31 23 ) : 



THE CULMINATING PORTRAIT 163 

For the dread of God restrains me, 

And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing. 

In his teachings regarding wealth the author of Job at many 
points anticipates those of Jesus. He held and clearly taught 
that man cannot serve both God and mammon (Job 31 24 « 25 « 28 ): 

If I have put my confidence in gold, 
And have said to fine gold, 'In thee I trust I. ' 
If I have rejoiced because my wealth is great, 
And because my hand had gotten much; 



This also were a guilt to be punished by the judges, 
For I should have denied the God who is above. 

In verses 29, 30 Job breaks with the Old Testament psalmists, 
many of whom deemed it a virtue to curse their enemies, and 
stands on the threshold of the New Testament. As has been 
truly said: 

If chapter 31 is the crown of the whole ethical development 
of the Old Testament, verse 29 is the jewel of that crown. 

Even though Job does not say, "I have loved my enemies," 
he does boldly declare that he has banished hate from his 
heart (Job 31 29 - 30 ): 

If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hates me, 
Or been exultant when evil found him — 
Verily I have not permitted my mouth to sin 
By asking his life with a curse. 

So intense are Job's protestations and so strongly is he con- 
vinced of his own innocence that in these impassioned passages 
he does not stop to suggest the penalty that God might ap- 
propriately inflict if his words were false. 

He next declares that he has been absolutely loyal to the 
highest dictates of Oriental hospitality. He has lost no op- 
portunity to serve even the stranger and alien. In all his 



164 THE GOOD NEIGHBOUR AND CITIZEN 

social relations he has been faithful to the commands of his 
own enlightened conscience. Public opinion and social usage 
have not abashed nor deflected him from the path of ser- 
vice (Job 31 31 - 34 ): 

If the men of my tent have not said, 

'Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?' 

The sojourner has not lodged in the street, 

But I have opened wide my doors to the traveller. 

If like Adam I have covered my transgression 

By hiding my iniquity in my bosom, 

Because I feared the great multitude, 

And the contempt of families terrified me, 

So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door — 

Again he leaves a blank for the penalty, that God himself may 
inflict whatever is just. 

Finally, in all his economic dealings with his fellow men he 
is guided by the principles of strict justice. No dependent 
class has been exploited by him. His figure is apparently 
drawn from the ancient story of Cain in Genesis 4, which im- 
plies that he regards such injustice as nothing less than mur- 
der (Job 31 38 " 40 ): 

If my land cries out against me, 

And if its furrows weep together; 

If I have eaten its produce without money, 

Or caused its owners to lose their lives; 

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, 

And stinking weeds instead of barley. 

This remarkable picture of the social citizen is a fitting climax 
to the social idealism of the Old Testament. Together with 
the portrait of the perfect servant of Jehovah, it links the 
social teachings recorded in the older Testament closely to 
those of the New. 



XV 

THE SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY OF HILLEL AND JOHN 

THE BAPTIST 

The Century of Social Inertia. The Maccabean period, 
which began about 165 and extended to the conquest of Pales- 
tine by Pompey in 63 B.C., was singularly lacking in social ideal- 
ism. It was a century of great political upheaval. At first 
under the organised and relentless persecution of Antiochus 
Epiphanes the very existence of Judaism hung in the balance. 
When at last, after a long, heroic struggle, the Jews won first 
religious and then political independence, their attention was 
almost wholly engrossed in national questions. The slumber- 
ing political aspirations of the race were aroused. Their pa- 
triots began to dream again of a world-wide empire. The 
noble missionary ideals of their earlier prophets were also to a 
great extent forgotten, for the hatreds engendered by the bitter 
strife with their heathen neighbours embittered the hearts even 
of their religious leaders. Internecine civil struggles soon ab- 
sorbed the attention of all. Moreover, during the Maccabean 
period their inherited laws and ceremonial institutions, for 
which their martyrs had given their life-blood, were appreci- 
ated as never before in their history. The result was that the 
old ceremonial conception of religion largely took the place of 
the ethical and social ideals of their pre-exilic prophets. As in 
time the political situation became more hopeless and the iron 
hand of Rome closed upon them, the Jewish idealists fixed their 
attention more and more upon the popular apocalyptic hopes 
whose realisation was conditioned not upon human endeavour 
but upon a divine, miraculous interposition. 

The Maccabean period witnessed the rise of the three great 
parties in Judaism, but none of them strongly emphasised social 

165 



166 HILLEL AND JOHN THE BAPTIST 

righteousness. The Sadducees, the rich and ruling high- 
priestly party, were conservative in theory and belief and self- 
ish opportunists in practice. The Pharisees constituted the 
popular democratic party, but the majority of them looked 
for a miraculous transformation of society and regarded the 
punctilious keeping of the ceremonial law as the chief end of 
religion. Their primary interests, therefore, were not in social 
questions. While the Essenes practised charity and recog- 
nised as supreme the law of brotherhood, they were ascetics 
who avoided rather than faced squarely the social problems of 
their age. Only a few members of the Jewish race, belonging 
for the most part to the humble middle class, continued to 
cherish the social ideals of the earlier prophets and sages, and 
to long not for a catastrophic upheaval but for a moral and so- 
cial awakening which would banish from the heart of Jew and 
Gentile the prevailing enmity and injustice and oppression and 
bind together all members of the human race into one great 
brotherhood. At the beginning of the first Christian era what 
the Jews supremely needed was a new school of social prophets 
to break the bonds of ceremonialism and false theology, to give 
them more spiritual ideals and aspirations, to turn their eyes 
to the social problems of their race and age, and thus to deliver 
them from the deadly lethargy which was threatening their 
very life. 

The Social Reawakening Led by Hillel. It is significant 
that the moving spirit in the ethical and social reawakening 
which marked the closing years of the first pre-christian cen- 
tury was not a prophet but a rabbi. Hillel, like the great 
rabbis of his race, inherited the ideals and methods of the 
earlier Jewish wise men. Unlike his contemporaries, his chief 
emphasis was not on the ceremonial but on character and life. 
Born among the Jews of Babylon, he came, about 40 B.C., to 
Jerusalem to study in this great university centre of Judaism. 
He died about 10 a.d., so that it is more than possible that he 
exerted a direct and personal influence upon both John the 
Baptist and Jesus. Certainly if the young boy of Nazareth, 
who so eagerly improved his earliest opportunity (about 8 



THE SOCIAL REAWAKENING 167 

a.d.) to question the rabbis at Jerusalem, did not come into 
personal contact with Hillel, he did with his disciples, who 
for over a century continued to be the leading interpreters of 
the Jewish religion. 

Unfortunately we know Hillel only through the chance refer- 
ences and the quotations from his teachings which have come 
down through later Jewish writings. They indicate that he 
was born in poverty and was personally acquainted with the 
painful problems of life. He was famous for his meekness, his 
tolerance, his breadth, and his democracy. He genuinely 
loved all men, and the needy were never turned away from his 
door without some tangible evidence of his interest and sym- 
pathy. Like Socrates, he held that ignorance was the chief 
cause of sin: 

The ignorant man cannot, from the nature of things, have an 
aversion to evil. 

He also taught that those who will not learn deserve to die. 

HillePs Social Teachings. The basis of Hillel's social teach- 
ings was evidently a simple but profound consciousness of God. 
Alluding to the throngs assembled on the great feast day for 
worship in the temple, he declared in the name of God: 

If I am here, every one is here. 
If I am not here, no one is here. 

Commenting on a passage in the book of Ezra, Hillel also put 
in the mouth of God these significant words: 

If thou come into my house, I come into thy house; 
If thou come not into my house, I come not into thine. 

Hillel struck a noble note in his great teaching: 

If you are where no man is, show yourself a man. 

Like the earlier sages, he pointed out the ultimate unity of a 
man's individual and social obligations. His language is epi- 
grammatic, but the meaning is clear: 



168 HILLEL AND JOHN THE BAPTIST 

If I am not for myself, who is for me? 
And if I am for myself alone, where am I? 
And if not now, then when ? 

He also taught that he who seeks to aggrandise himself de- 
stroys himself. Like Jesus, Hillel evidently saw clearly that no 
man could ever fully express himself except in devoted service 
to society. 

HillePs Standards for the Socially Minded Citizen. Hil- 
lel's aim was clearly to develop socially minded neighbours and 
citizens who would constitute a perfect society. He was no 
ascetic, either in life or teaching. He exhorted his disciples: 

Separate not yourself from the congregation. 

He urged each to make a harmonious unit in society: 

Appear neither naked nor clothed, 
Neither sitting nor standing, 
Neither laughing nor weeping. 

The selfish man he likened to one at sea in a boat with others 
who insists upon boring a hole under his seat. Hillel antici- 
pated Jesus* teaching: 

Judge not that ye be not judged, 

for he laid down the noble precept: 

Judge not another until you have come into his place. 

Hillel was also a strong advocate of peace. He believed 
thoroughly in the might of right. He taught that obedience 
to the moral and civil law was the essential basis of peace: 

Be among the disciples of Aaron, who loved peace and received 
peace and loved all creatures and guided them to the law. 

His supreme utterance, which may well have been in the 
mind of Jesus when he laid down the same great principle in 
positive form, was: 



THE SOCIALLY MINDED CITIZEN 169 

Do not to your neighbour what is unpleasant to yourself; this 
is the whole law; all else is but exposition. 

The Antecedents of John the Baptist. In the minds of 
most modern students John the Baptist is rarely associated with 
Hillel; and yet these two great teachers had much in common. 
Hillel represented the noblest teachings of later Judaism; 
John the first-fruits of a new and supremely vital world move- 
ment to which Hillel appears to have given the first impetus. 
It is only the perspective of history that has made these two 
great leaders the representatives of two distinct religions. In 
its origin there was no sharp distinction between Christianity 
and Judaism. In the eyes of his contemporaries John was in 
every respect a loyal Jew. Both lived in the same epoch- 
making half-century. One was a rabbi, the other a prophet, 
yet each drew his inspiration from the earlier moral and spiritual 
teachers of their race. Both declared that the essentials in 
religion and life were not creeds and ceremonials but character 
and acts. The fundamental teachings of both were ethical and 
social. John is the younger and probably owed much to Hillel. 
According to Christian tradition he was by birth and training a 
priest and was reared at Jerusalem under the shadow of the 
temple. During John's childhood and youth Hillel was still ut- 
tering his great social message. 

Against the formalism, the hypocrisy, and the corrupt life of 
the city he early reacted. It was probable that it was this reac- 
tion which carried him out into the wilderness of Judea, far 
from all the injustice and hypocritical formalism of Jerusalem. 
Here he doubtless came into personal contact with the Essenes, 
the members of the Jewish monastic order which was strongly 
intrenched in this region. Their zeal for social service must 
have made a deep impression upon him; but the chief influence 
in John's life was the social message of the earlier prophets 
such as Amos and Isaiah. The conditions with which they 
dealt were very similar to those which confronted John. In 
their ethical and social interpretation of religion his awakened 
soul found satisfaction. His task henceforth was to impress 



170 HILLEL AND JOHN THE BAPTIST 

the principles which they proclaimed upon the dull conscious- 
ness of his contemporaries. John's nature as well as his religious 
experiences made him a prophet rather than a rabbi. He had 
the enthusiastic and passionate spirit of a reformer. It is sig- 
nificant that his age likened him to the fiery Elijah, who at an 
earlier period in Israel's history had aroused the sleeping con- 
science of the nation. John, like the earlier prophets, spoke to 
masses and classes rather than to the individual. He was one 
of the great pioneers of human history whose mission was to 
uproot all old prejudices and traditions and break the hard, 
stony soil of conventionalism and ceremonialism and to prepare 
it for the reception of the new seed which only a skilled teacher 
could plant. 

The Social Standards Established by John. John has fre- 
quently been interpreted as an apocalyptic dreamer, but the 
brief extracts from his addresses that are preserved in the earlier 
gospel records are all distinctly social. For the most part they 
are unmistakable echoes of the social sermons of Amos and 
Isaiah. Concretely and effectively John proclaimed the brother- 
hood of man and the obligations which this relation entailed. 
To all who came to him in quest of the secret of life, both here 
and hereafter, he declared (Lk. 3 11 ) : 

He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none; 
And he who has food, let him do likewise. 

Here is found the germinal ideal which took form in the 
brotherhood or devoted community which even during John's 
lifetime grew into a strong and widely extended sect (Acts 19 1 - 4 ). 
Under the influence of Jesus' personality and teachings this 
fraternal spirit expanded until it became the exquisite flower of 
early Christianity. To the tax collectors, who came to John 
with the question of what they should do, John gave an answer 
which laid the foundations for a new social attitude and level 
of living (Lk. 3 13 ): 

Extort no more than is assigned to you. 



STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY JOHN 171 

In reply to the question of the soldiers, he placed the entire 
emphasis on social responsibility, urging them to abstain from 
the lawless acts which made them the foes rather than the 
guardians of society (Lk. 3 14 ) : 

Use violence toward none, 
Neither accuse any one wrongfully; 
But be content with your wages. 

By these plain, practical teachings John sought to set each 
man in the right social relations to his fellows and to society. 
It was through these familiar, homely words that he touched the 
conscience of his race and even that of the pagan and Samaritan 
soldiers who fought in the pay of Rome. 

John's Conception of the New Era That Was Dawning. 
John the Baptist stirred the various classes in his nation not 
only because he revived the social emphasis on religion but also 
because he struck an exceedingly popular note. For nearly a 
century Judaism had chafed under the harsh yoke of Rome. 
The memories of the seemingly miraculous victories under 
Judas Maccabeus and his brothers were still fresh in their 
minds. Out of bitter persecutions emerged a series of apoca- 
lypses (of which those in Daniel 7-12 are the most familiar) 
filled with glowing promises of the glorious deliverances which 
God was about to effect for his people, and of the new era which 
was soon to dawn in which all evil should be banished and 
righteousness and peace prevail universally. The Old Testa- 
ment closes with this message of hope (Mai. 4 1 ) : 

Behold the day is coming that shall burn like a furnace, 

And all the proud and those who work iniquity shall be stubble. 

Practically all classes in Judaism in the days of John were 
waiting expectantly for the dawning of this new era. The rab- 
bis also taught that the chief agent in inaugurating it was to be 
the long-promised Messiah, who was to be suddenly and super- 
naturally revealed. The book of Malachi was one of the chief 
corner-stones upon which this belief was founded (Mai. 3 1 - 311 ): 



172 HILLEL AND JOHN THE BAPTIST 

Behold I will send my messenger, 

And he will prepare the way before me, 

And the Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple. 

But who can endure the day of his coming? 

And who will stand when he appeareth? 

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' lye; 

And he will sit as a refiner and purifier. 

To these popular hopes John appealed; but, instead of en- 
couraging the people to expect a miraculous transformation, 
like the earlier ethical prophets he taught them that each man 
had a vital part to perform in inaugurating the kingdom of 
heaven, which was the popular designation of the new era 
(Lk. 3»): 

Already the axe is laid at the root of the tree. 

Every one therefore that does not bring forth good fruit 

Is cut down and cast into the fire. 

John's Prediction of the Advent of a Greater Spiritual 
Reformer. John also declared that a greater teacher and 
prophet was soon to come who would do a deeper spiritual 
work than he and completely eliminate the evil in society and in 
men's characters (Lk. 3 16 « 17 ): 

I indeed baptise you with water; but one is coming mightier 
than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. 
He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His fan 
is in his hand and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor 
and gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn up 
with unquenchable fire. 

John's concrete predictions appear to have been in part sug- 
gested by his keen appreciation of the moral and social needs 
of his day and in part by the predictions of earlier prophets. 
These do not, however, entirely explain the note of certainty in 
his predictions. It is true that he does not by any means give 
a perfect portrait of Jesus and his work. As a matter of fact 
the mission and methods of the Teacher of Nazareth were not 



THE GREATER SOCIAL REFORMER 173 

destructive but constructive; but John's intense conviction 
that the new and long-hoped-for era was imminent finds its 
only satisfactory explanation in that prophetic consciousness 
which he shared in common with the great prophets of his race. 
The Significance of John's Work. His striking predic- 
tion was undoubtedly one of the main links which in the thought 
of later generations bound him closely to Jesus. The record is 
so meagre that it is difficult fully to estimate the significance of 
John's work. It is evident, however, that he shook for the mo- 
ment at least the smug self-satisfaction of the Pharisaic leaders 
of the nation, and gave to the mass of the common people a 
new conception of the kingdom of God, and of the role which 
they each must play if it was to be inaugurated. John set 
again the ethical and social teachings of the earlier prophets 
and of the more spiritual psalmists in the centre of focus. At 
the same time he shattered the narrow partisan claims of Ju- 
daism (Lk. 3 8 ): 

Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance and do not 
say to yourselves, 'We are descendants of Abraham'; for I tell 
you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abra- 
ham. 

Thus he prepared the way for the work which Jesus and Paul 
completed. Furthermore, he rallied a group of disciples who 
were working and looking for a new spiritual era and for a new 
and greater teacher. Above all, the sturdy social message of 
John the Baptist apparently drew the Master Builder of Naza- 
reth from the quiet of his peasant home into the great centres 
of national life and activity. It was by these inestimable ser- 
vices that John won his title as the herald of the new era that 
witnessed the work and teaching of Jesus. 



PART III 
THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS 



XVI 

JESUS' APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL PROBLEM 

The Master Builder of Nazareth. The majority of men 
to-day still think of Jesus primarily in theological and meta- 
physical terms. They do so because from the days of Paul 
even to the close of the last century the church has placed 
the chief emphasis upon this conception of him. If we would 
really know him, however, it is necessary to follow the guidance 
not of the later creeds but of the oldest gospel writers, like 
Mark, who introduce us to him as the Master Builder of Naza- 
reth, the friend and teacher of men. Luke gives us a brief but 
vivid picture of his developing childhood, of his normal growth, 
of his simple, natural relations with God and men, and of that 
ever deepening and broadening knowledge of human life which 
came with increased experience. The history of the first thirty 
years of Jesus' life must be reconstructed chiefly from a knowl- 
edge of his environment and inheritance and from the records 
of his mature life and teachings. These data, while not com- 
plete, are yet sufficient to give a clear-cut conception of his 
unique personality. But the character and faith of Jesus that 
were perfected during these years were unique primarily because 
they were absolutely normal. While all other men had turned 
aside, he followed persistently and joyously the narrow way 
that leads to liberty and fulness of fife and intimate fellowship 
with God. Having found that path and the satisfying goal to 
which it leads, he devoted the remaining years of his life to 
showing his fellow men how they might follow that path and 
reach the same goal. Viewed through the earliest gospel rec- 
ords, the character of Jesus is incomparably simple, for it was 
not distorted by the sins and prejudices which make the char- 
acters of other men complex and only partly comprehensible. 

177 



178 JESUS' APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL PROBLEM 

The Evidences of Jesus' Interest in Social Questions. 

Jesus sprang from a race of social teachers. Almost every page 
of the ancient scriptures which he read and studied intently 
and eagerly was saturated with social idealism. As a boy at 
Jerusalem he came into direct contact with the stirrings of the 
new social awakening inaugurated by Hillel. In his early man- 
hood it was the voice of the heroic social teacher, John the 
Baptist, that proved irresistible. Thus the strongest influences 
that from childhood touched and stirred Jesus were distinctly 
social. 

Jesus' own personal inclinations and impulses were all social. 
There was nothing of the recluse or ascetic in his nature. He 
himself declared by word as well as by his manner of living that 
"the Son of man came eating and drinking" (Mt. II 19 ). He 
fully appreciated and even called attention to the wide differ- 
ence in this respect between John the Baptist and himself. 
He was a sympathetic friend of all classes and above all of the 
tax collectors and sinners — the classes that presented in many 
respects the most difficult and insistent social problem of his 
day. In the few rare instances in which he defined his mission 
he declared that he came to save these social outcasts, "the 
down and outs" of Jewish society. He met his death as a direct 
result of his attempt to right a great social wrong. The final 
charge which the conspiring high priest brought against him 
was (Lk. 23 5 ): 

He stirs up the people, teaching them throughout all of Judea, 
beginning from Galilee and coming even here. 

Later Pilate declared to the high priest (Lk. 23 14 ) : 
You brought this man to me as a seducer of the people. 

The oldest gospel records make it clear that Jesus inaugurated 
a great popular, democratic movement. It was the common 
people who "heard him gladly." The supreme evidence, how- 
ever, of his interest in social questions is found in the character 
of his teachings. Fully half of them are distinctly social in 



INTEREST IN SOCIAL QUESTIONS 179 

their content and application. It was pre-eminently a social 
gospel which he proclaimed. This new social teaching was the 
essence of the "good tidings" that arrested the attention of 
Judaism and of the Graeco-Roman world. 

The Record of Jesus* Social Teachings. Widely varying 
opinions are held to-day regarding Jesus' attitude toward 
social questions. These differences are partly due to the in- 
completeness of the gospel records. Three of the gospel writers, 
the authors of Mark, Matthew, and John, were not primarily 
interested in social problems. Instead they were chiefly con- 
cerned with presenting the evidences of Jesus' divine nature 
and authority. The wide-spread belief in his speedy second 
coming also undoubtedly tended to blunt the social conscious- 
ness of these early Christian writers and rendered it difficult for 
them to appreciate fully his social teachings and their immedi- 
ate application. Of all the New Testament writers, Paul and 
Luke were most interested in the social aspect of Jesus' message. 
Paul's interest was practical and begotten by his intimate 
knowledge of the pressing social problems which confronted 
the Christians in the various communities which he had founded 
and for which he felt a deep pastoral responsibility. His mem- 
ory was logical rather than verbal. The result is that he has 
preserved the underlying principles rather than the exact form 
of Jesus' social teachings. 

Of all the New Testament writers, Luke, the physician, was 
most keenly alive to the importance of giving a full record of 
Jesus' social teachings, although, like Paul, he was often in- 
clined to paraphrase them. If it had not been for Luke's 
social interest we would have known nothing, for example, of 
Jesus' parables of the Rich Man and Lazarus and of the Good 
Samaritan. To him alone we owe the priceless record of the 
social conversion of the grafting tax collector Zaccheus. Luke's 
intense social interest possibly led him in one or two cases to 
heighten the colours. Thus, in 12 33 he makes universal the 
command to sell all possessions and give to the poor, which, ac- 
cording to Matthew 19 16-22 , was addressed simply to a rich young 
man in whom Jesus saw large possibilities of discipleship. In 



180 JESUS' APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL PROBLEM 

Luke 6 20 - 21 the version of Jesus' beatitudes, which in Matthew 
read: 

Happy are the poor in spirit 
and, 

Happy are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, 

become: 

Happy are you poor I 
For yours is the kingdom of God. 
Happy are you who hunger now ! 
For you shall be satisfied. 

To this seemingly socialistic utterance Luke alone of all the 
gospel writers adds the antithetic equivalent (Lk. 6 24 - 25 ): 

But woe to you rich folk 1 
You get all the comforts you will ever get. 
Woe to you who have your fill to-day I 
For you shall be hungry. 

Even if, with his keen interest in the poor and needy, Luke at 
one or two points gave Jesus' social teachings a distinctly so- 
cialistic interpretation, we owe to him an inestimable debt, for 
he, more than any other gospel writer, has pictured Jesus as the 
friend of sinners and outcasts, of children and women, and of 
the socially disinherited classes. In this great social gospel are 
revealed most clearly Jesus' chivalry and his sympathy for the 
helpless. At the same time it is profoundly significant that in 
the gospels where the interest is not primarily social there is a 
wealth of social principles, which indicates how extensive and 
all-pervading was this element in Jesus' teachings. Undoubt- 
edly in an age which had not as yet awakened to the importance 
of social questions many of Jesus' important social doctrines 
were lost. Notwithstanding these limitations, the New Testa- 
ment writings as a whole present sufficient data for determining 
with relative certainty, in connection with every important 
issue, the social principles which he set forth. These principles 
are further illustrated by their practical application in the life 
of the early church. Thus, although the records are incidental 



RECORD OF HIS SOCIAL TEACHINGS 181 

and in many respects incomplete, we have to-day a more definite 
and comprehensive knowledge of Jesus' social philosophy than 
that of any other biblical teacher. 

The Social Problems of Jesus* Day. The social conditions 
which confronted Jesus were in many ways very different from 
those with which the earlier prophets dealt. Rome had taken 
out of the hands of the Jews practically all political control. 
In consequence the most insistent social problems were not 
political. The question of Roman taxation was a sore spot 
in the Jewish consciousness. The iniquitous system of collec- 
tion, especially that employed in farming the custom taxes, 
aroused bitter resentment. Injustice on the one side and bitter 
prejudice on the other characterised the respective attitudes of 
rulers and ruled. What was supremely needed was a common 
principle on which both could stand and justice could be es- 
tablished. 

Equally unscrupulous and grasping was the attitude of the 
Jewish temple authorities toward the common people. In 
reality this problem was far more vital than that presented by 
the imperial tax, for the injustice fell heaviest upon the poorest 
classes, and the insidious graft was masked by time-honoured 
religious sanction. It is significant that these bazaars, es- 
tablished by the high priests in the temple court, represented 
the one form of social injustice which Jesus openly attacked. 
Equally insidious and deadly was the religious ostracism which 
was meted out by the religious leaders of the nation to the help- 
less, ignorant, toiling masses, "the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel," who were either unable to conform to the rigorous de- 
mands of the ceremonial law, or else by virtue of their social 
position and defective moral training lacked the desire and the 
incentive. In the eyes of many of the self-righteous Pharisees, 
these shepherdless classes were regarded as little more than 
social refuse. 

The tendency was also exceedingly strong in contemporary 
Jewish life to attribute undue importance to wealth. Such a 
broad-minded teacher as Ben Sira had declared that only the 
man of means was in a position to become a learned scribe 



182 JESUS' APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL PROBLEM 

(Ben S. 38 24-33 ). Even among the Pharisaic leaders of the na- 
tion there was a mercenary spirit which blunted their social 
consciousness. Among the common people there was a greed 
for wealth which sadly distorted their appreciation of social 
values. Above all, there was in all classes a pathetic lack of a 
developed social consciousness. Self-seeking individualism was 
rampant. Even the most progressive religious teachers held 
up eternal life and the assurance of individual blessedness in 
the future as the chief incentives for right doing and the ultimate 
goal for which to strive. 

The Jewish race lacked social integration and organisation. 
The Palestine of Jesus' day contained many different races and 
classes, each full of bitter hatred and contending with the oth- 
ers for what it regarded as its rights. This pitiable condition 
was due to the fact that there was no worthy and clearly de- 
fined social ideal to arouse the enthusiasm and effort of each 
individual and to bind all men together in united service. 
These were the crying social needs that influenced Jesus to be- 
come a social teacher and leader. Simply and directly he ad- 
dressed himself to them. At the same time he sought to effect 
not merely passing reforms but to remove the causes that lay 
at the root of these social evils. 

The Experiential Basis of Jesus' Social Teachings. John 
Mark assures us that Jesus " spoke with authority and not as 
the scribes." It is evident that the basis of this authority, 
which made his teachings convincing and satisfying, was not 
merely the authority of the past, although no one was more 
ready than he to acknowledge the debt that he owed to his pred- 
ecessors. He plainly stated that he came " not to destroy but 
to fulfil the law and the prophets." The content of his teach- 
ings amply confirms this statement. It is clear that he used 
the word "fulfil" not in the sense of carrying out a prescribed 
personal programme, but rather in bringing to complete and 
perfect expression and application those eternal principles 
which underlie the teachings of earlier prophets, priests, and 
sages. These teachings were the foundations upon which Je- 
sus based his social philosophy. At the same time he did not 



THE EXPERIENTIAL BASIS 183 

hesitate to depart from them when they were an imperfect ex- 
pression of truth. "They say to you . . . but I say to you" 
recurs repeatedly in the fifth chapter of Matthew. 

The element in Jesus' teachings, however, which compelled 
the ready assent of his hearers was the ringing note of convic- 
tion based on personal experience. It is the only explanation 
of why his words, when understood, have arrested the attention 
of all later ages and races. Every social principle which he set 
forth had been thoroughly tested by him. Indeed, rich and 
varied was the social world in which he lived and worked. 
Palestine, with its mingled races and civilisations and contend- 
ing ideals, was an epitome of the larger Roman Empire. Pre- 
eminently in Capernaum, the commercial metropolis of Galilee, 
the eddying currents of Jewish and Roman life met and mingled. 
The upland village of Nazareth, in which the life of the com- 
munity was an open book, offered a rare field for the study of 
the social forces which upbuild or destroy manhood and woman- 
hood. The home of Joseph and Mary, teeming with sons and 
daughters, each with his varying interests and conflicting am- 
bitions, fully represented the primary social unit. Not merely 
as a keen, sympathetic observer, but through personal knowl- 
edge, Jesus learned the invincible power of meekness, of the 
forgiving spirit, and the transcendent joy of working whole- 
heartedly for the common good. In the home and in the com- 
munity he tested out the great principle which he has embodied 
in the most striking and comprehensive of all his beatitudes: 

Oh the happiness of the peacemakers ! 

For they shall be called the children of God. 

Jesus evidently used here the old Semitic word which means 
not merely peace, but also prosperity, well-being, harmony, 
and completeness. Those to whom he referred are the harmony- 
makers who are tirelessly working for the well-being and the 
largest and finest development of themselves, of their fellow 
men, of the family, and of the larger social groups. No other 
words in the gospels better describe Jesus' attitude toward 



184 JESUS' APPROACH TO THE SOCIAL PROBLEM 

society. It is significant that he himself characterises these 
workers for social harmony and completeness as the children of 
God. This saying reveals his conception of God as the supreme 
Harmony-maker. 

Jesus' Conception of the Relation of Religion to Social 
Service. In all his activity and teaching the two dominating 
ideas in the mind of Jesus were the fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man. In the beatitude just quoted he declares 
that those who are faithfully and whole-heartedly working for 
the peace and welfare of society are in the truest sense children 
of God. On one occasion it was reported that a man who was 
not an avowed follower was casting out demons in his name. 
Jesus at once improved this opportunity to assert the broad 
principle (Mk. 9 40 ): 

He who is not against us is for us. 

In his own experience he knew that the only motive power 
that would constantly impel men to serve their fellow men, 
even in the face of misunderstanding and opposition and per- 
secution, was the love of God and zeal to realise his fatherly 
purpose in the lives of his children. 

On the other hand, it was to him inconceivable that any one 
could be a true child of God and not be at the same time a 
peacemaker, ever striving to establish harmony and well-being 
in the social order. It was his own love and loyalty to his 
divine Father that made him an indefatigable social worker. 
He taught that complete love and loyalty to God cannot be 
dissevered from complete love and loyalty to man. Hence he 
made faithful social service the supreme test of loyalty to him 
and to his cause (Mt. 25 34 - 40 ) : 

Then the King will say to those on his right: 'Come, you whom 
my Father hath blessed. Receive your inheritance prepared for 
you from the founding of the world. 

For I was hungry and you fed me, 
I was thirsty and you gave me drink, 



RELIGION AND SOCIAL SERVICE 185 

I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 
I was without clothes and you clothed me, 
I was sick and you looked after me, 
I was in prison and you visited me.' 

Then the righteous will answer: 

'Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you ? 
Or thirsty and gave you drink ? 
When did we see you a stranger and welcomed you? 
Or without clothing and clothed you? 
When did we see you sick or in prison and visited you?' 

The King will answer them, 'Verily, I tell you, inasmuch as you 
did it to the least of these my brothers you did it to me.' 



XVII 

JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS AS A SOCIAL 
TEACHER 

Jesus' Consciousness of a Social Mission. The gospel 
narratives, though incomplete, indicate that from the time that 
Jesus left his home he was impelled by a social aim and plan. 
It is also equally clear that these were determined primarily by 
the social needs of his race and day. During the thirty years 
spent at Nazareth and in Galilee he had carefully analysed 
these needs. Contemporary Judaism was prolific in social pro- 
grammes. The Sadducees, for example, maintained that the 
Jews should submit to the rule of Rome and thus preserve as 
far as possible their inherited social order. The Pharisees, on 
the other hand, chafed under the imperial rule and encouraged 
the people to look for the appearance of a messiah who would 
break the hated Roman yoke and establish an independent 
Jewish state, like that over which David and Josiah had ruled, 
and in which the inherited Jewish ideals of justice and equality 
might be realised. The Zealots were eager and ready to in- 
augurate this new social order by resort to the sword. The 
Essenes, on the other hand, regarded the existing social order as 
hopelessly corrupt. Hence they encouraged men to turn their 
backs upon it, and by living the ascetic life, by strict adherence 
to the ritual, and by acts of social service, to build up in cer- 
tain favoured groups a communal life in which the principles 
of brotherhood and mutual service should prevail. 

Jesus apparently accepted none of these conflicting pro- 
grammes. That he had, however, a comprehensive social aim 
and plan is revealed by the dramatic account of his tempta- 
tions with which the record of his public ministry opens. It 
indicates that he was keenly aware of a call to a great social 

186 



CONSCIOUSNESS OF A SOCIAL MISSION 187 

work. The temptations arose in connection with the question 
of what methods he should employ in carrying out this work. 
The majority of the people of his day were eager to rally about 
a messiah who would demonstrate by miraculous signs his divine 
right to lead. Still more insidious was the temptation to resort 
to compromise. The Pharisees were the acknowledged religious 
leaders of the people. Should he overlook their mercenary 
spirit and their undue emphasis on ceremonial in order to secure 
that powerful following which, during the earlier part of his 
ministry, they were almost ready to give him? The political 
influence of the Sadducean high priests was potent both with 
Roman and Jew. Should he, in order not to arouse their power- 
ful opposition, silently overlook their selfish opportunism and 
their grafting practices ? It was the ever-recurring problem of 
whether or not a worthy end justifies unworthy means. The 
greater and more vital the end, the greater the temptation. 
Knowing, as Jesus did, the bold ambitions that were stirring in 
the hearts of his countrymen, we can appreciate how real and 
intense were the temptations which confronted him, not merely 
at the beginning, but repeatedly throughout his public ministry. 
Why Jesus Went to Capernaum. It is probable that the 
details of Jesus' social aim and plan gradually crystallised in his 
mind. There are even suggestions that these were not fully 
complete until late in his public ministry. In any case, it is 
clear in the light of the oldest records that he was following no 
preordained social programme. Rather, he was aiming to meet 
in a way that would be complete and final the universal social 
needs which were exemplified in the society of his day. It is 
also evident that he carefully studied the best place and method 
of realising concretely his social plan. There are indications 
in the gospel narrative that he first attempted to establish his 
work in Judea and to build directly upon the social foundations 
already laid by John the Baptist. This field, however, proved 
barren, or else the opposition too strong. Early in his public 
ministry he went to Capernaum. In this great commercial 
centre, with its teeming suburbs — Bethsaida and Chorazin — he 
was in a very different environment from that in which he had 



188 JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS 

grown up. Only a compelling reason would have influenced 
him to choose this greater Capernaum and make it, as he did 
henceforth, the chief centre of his activity. That reason is sug- 
gested in his direct teachings as well as by the character of 
his work there. Capernaum was the densest centre of Jewish 
population in all Galilee. Within this strongly commercial 
city, beside which ran the great artery of trade that extended 
from Egypt to Babylonia, were crowded as in no other city of 
Palestine "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Stated in 
modern terms, it was the great slum centre of Palestine, and 
Jesus went there to establish what may be described in certain 
of its aspects as a social settlement work. 

Capernaum was also a centre from which great highways 
radiated to all parts of Palestine and Syria. A social leaven 
planted there would inevitably spread rapidly and widely in 
all directions. Capernaum was the centre of that broad field 
which appealed powerfully to Jesus, not only because orMts 
crying needs, but also because here he could demonstrate under 
the most rigorous yet representative conditions the social prin- 
ciples which he wished to establish. These reasons alone ex- 
plain why the peasant from an upland village in Galilee broke 
.completely with his familiar environment and plunged into the 
heart of a great city and made it the chief scene of his brief but 
intensely strenuous public activity. 

Jesus' Work at Capernaum. As a public preacher Jesus 
followed the traditions of the prophets; as a teacher, those of 
the Jewish sages and rabbis. But he did not trust simply to 
preaching and teaching: he believed thoroughly in practical 
demonstration. This fact is the key to an understanding of 
his work at Capernaum. Certain of his methods shocked the 
religious leaders of his race. He mingled freely with all classes. 
He accepted with equal alacrity invitations to dine whether 
given by learned Pharisees or despised tax collectors. Even the 
fallen women of the streets were not beyond the pale of his 
sympathy. The scribes and Pharisees flung at him the con- 
temptuous charge that he was the friend of drunkards and 
social outcasts. These startling facts further reveal his aim 



WORK AT CAPERNAUM 189 

and his method. He was eagerly seeking by all legitimate 
means to establish close and intimate points of contact with all 
classes in the community. Whenever he could perform a ser- 
vice for one of them, he quickly embraced the opportunity. 
Capernaum, to which many of the worst dregs of humanity had 
gravitated, was rich in such opportunities. Its malarious cli- 
mate has always been productive of physical disorders. The 
social evils which flourished there multiplied the numbers of 
those who needed physical, mental, and moral healing. As far 
as his time permitted, Jesus responded to their appeals. It is 
evident, however, that he regarded his acts of mental and 
physical healing as simply means to an end. On the one hand, 
they relieved the poor victims of these ills from the fatal handi- 
caps which debarred them from wholesome social thinking and 
living. . On the other hand, his services to them won their 
gratitude and confidence and established the closest possible 
points of contact. 

In ancient Capernaum, as in every centre of population to- 
day, there was an intense hunger for neighbourliness. This 
hunger Jesus satisfied. But he did not stop there. He en- 
deavoured by instruction, by friendship, and by example to 
teach them the fundamental principles of living and, above all, 
to create in the mind of each that spirit of fellowship and of 
loyalty to God which was the inspiration of all that he was and 
did. Sometimes in public, more often in private as they en- 
gaged in their daily tasks, he discussed with them these great 
questions of faith and life. Thus he touched men on every side 
and in the most intimate and practical ways. 

The Classes to Which Jesus Appealed. Jesus openly de- 
clared that the men which appealed strongest to his sympathies 
were those who were ceremonially and morally beyond the pale 
of Pharisaic teaching. Not only in popular parlance, but in 
fact, they were "lost." Most of them were social outcasts; 
many of them because of their crimes and manner of living were 
probably debarred from the synagogues. In a more fundamental 
sense they were lost because they had no true conception of God 
or of his fatherly interest in men. There was no one to tell 



190 JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS 

them of the way of repentance which alone leads to fellowship 
with him. No worthy ideals or aspirations held them true in 
the hour of temptation and guided them in the way of noble 
endeavour. As a result, life had for them no real joy or in- 
spiration or hope. 

In all this human flotsam and jetsam Jesus saw divine possi- 
bilities, if he could but win their confidence and command their 
wills. He by no means confined his attention, however, to this 
class alone. It was a strangely varied group which he gathered 
about him. In the ranks of his immediate followers were found 
not only tax collectors and women of the streets, but self-re- 
specting, industrious working men, like Peter and Andrew the 
fishermen, well-to-do citizens of Capernaum, like the sons of 
Zebedee, capable business men like Judas Iscariot, fiery pa- 
triots like Simon the Zealot, and even members of Herod's 
royal court (Lk. 8 3 ). To women and children as well as men 
Jesus strongly appealed. No age or class was outside the broad 
circle of his sympathies. 

Reasons Why Jesus' Social Appeal Was to the Individual. 
One striking characteristic distinguishes his method as a social 
teacher from that of the prophets. They appealed primarily to 
the nation or to classes within the nation. Jesus also in rare 
instances addressed the nation, or classes like the scribes and 
Pharisees; but his chief work was done not with the mass, but 
with the individual. In this respect he adopted the methods of 
the Jewish wise men, with whom he had much in common. In 
one of his familiar utterances he aligns himself with this noble 
group of social teachers. He even described his teachings by 
a technical term which otherwise was used only by the wise 
(Mt. II 19 ): 

Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. 

He appealed to the individual, however, rather than to the 
mass, not because he followed the wise, but because he realised 
that only by training citizens, who were governed by the right 
social ideals, could he lay the foundations for a perfect and 
stable social order. Hence his first aim was to socialise the 



APPEAL TO THE INDIVIDUAL 191 

individuals with whom he came into personal contact. He 
trusted in men rather than in institutions. He spent all his 
time and effort in the endeavour to implant his social ideals 
in the breasts of certain definite men and women, and then left 
them to determine the exact methods and agencies by which 
these ideals were to be realised. History amply demonstrates 
the eminent wisdom of his method. 

Jesus' Way of Saving Men. The word salvation has had 
a different meaning in every age. The definition which has 
come down to us as a heritage largely from the Greek and Roman 
church fathers places the chief emphasis on religious belief. 
Jesus, in his conception of salvation, however, evidently re- 
garded belief simply as a preliminary to salvation. Repentance 
was even more important, for it cleared away the obstructions 
raised by past misdeeds and opened the way for constructive 
action. The essential element in salvation, according to Jesus, 
was a right social attitude, not only toward God but toward 
one's fellow men and toward organised society. 

Luke 19 1-10 contains the one clear, vivid illustration, not only 
of what Jesus meant by salvation, but also of the way in which 
he saved the "lost." It is the familiar story of Zaccheus, the 
rich, corrupt, despised tax collector of Jericho: 

And Jesus entered and was passing through Jericho, and there 
was a man by the name of Zaccheus, and he was the head of the 
tax collectors and was rich, and he tried to see who Jesus was, 
but could not for the crowd, because he was short in stature. 
So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see 
Jesus, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the 
place, he looked up, and said to him, 'Zaccheus, come down, for 
to-day I must stay at your house.' Then Zaccheus made haste 
to come down and received him with joy. But on seeing it every 
one began to complain, saying, 'He has gone in to eat with a 
man who is a sinner.' 

Evidently Jesus, with that rare psychological insight which 
characterises all his teaching and work, recognised that the only 
door which led to the heart of this man was that of hospitality. 



192 JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS 

Therefore he entered that door and became his guest. There 
is no evidence in the narrative that Jesus spoke to Zaccheus 
privately. Apparently the friendship of the Master prepared 
the way, and personal contact with him whose character and 
social ideals were in such striking contrast to his own revealed 
to Zaccheus his moral poverty and completed his social and 
spiritual regeneration. 

The narrative makes it clear that the essence of Zaccheus's 
conversion was the sudden transformation in his attitude to- 
ward society. Up to this moment in his life he had simply 
amassed wealth for himself by misusing his public office to 
extract money from the helpless in the community. In other 
words, his attitude was thoroughly unsocial. Now in the pres- 
ence of Jesus, and apparently in part to protect the Master from 
popular attack, he made a declaration which revealed the inner 
transformation: , 

Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and, if 
I have taken anything from any man wrongfully, I will give it 
back four-fold. 

Equally significant is Jesus' enthusiastic declaration: 

To-day has salvation come to this house I 

In this connection he adds a statement of the dominant aim 
which actuated him in all his work: 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which has 
been lost. 

Nowhere in the gospels do we have such a clear-cut definition 
of what he meant by "saving the lost." It was not sufficient 
to convince their reason, so that they accepted certain theolog- 
ical doctrines, or to appeal to their emotions, so that they be- 
came conscious of their sins : their whole attitude toward society 
must be transformed, so that henceforth their every act was to 
be governed by their awakened social consciousness. 



THE BROTHERHOOD AT CAPERNAUM 193 

The Brotherhood Which Jesus Built Up at Capernaum. 

The gospel records, as well as those found in Acts, indicate 
that Jesus did not content himself merely with the personal ap- 
peal. His aim in going to Capernaum was clearly to establish 
there a typical community which would be a concrete illustra- 
tion of the social principles which he taught. The twelve 
friends whom he asked to leave their daily tasks and join hands 
with him in fishing for men constituted the nucleus of this 
fraternal community. They were not chosen indiscriminately, 
but because of their personal ability and because they were 
typical of the different classes in the greater Capernaum. 
Jesus was fully aware of the magnitude of the task which he 
was undertaking. Of those whom he called to join with him in 
the work of building up this fraternal community, he demanded 
absolute loyalty and a complete conquest of their selfish im- 
pulses (Lk. 14 25 - 33 ) : 

Now large crowds were journeying along with him. And he 
turned and said to them, 'If any one comes to me and hates not 
his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and 
sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And 
he who does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot 
be my disciple. For which of you, wishing to build a tower, does 
not first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has money to 
complete it? Lest after he has laid the foundation and has not 
the means to finish, all those looking on begin to mock him, say- 
ing, "This man began to build, but was not able to finish." Or 
what king, on going to war with another king, will not first sit 
down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand men 
to meet him who is coming against him with twenty thousand? 
And if not, when the other is still far away, he sends an embassy 
and asks for terms of peace. So then, every one of you who does 
not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple/ 

Like every wise ethical teacher, Jesus frequently used hyper- 
bole in driving home truths which otherwise might fall on deaf 
ears. His use of hyperbole not only calls attention to the im- 
portance of the truth which he thus presents, but also his in- 
tense personal conviction of its validity. He was eager to re- 






194 JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS 

ceive any and all into the circle of his associates. "Follow me" 
was constantly on his lips. But he was equally strenuous in 
warning away any who might prove deficient in loyalty and 
steadfastness. Unless this fact be recognised, his words to the 
bereaved son, "Let the dead bury their own dead," seem cold 
and heartless. In Luke 9 62 he plainly states the principle for 
which he was contending: 

No man who looks back after having put his hand to the plough 
is fit for the kingdom of God. 

He was plainly endeavouring to rally about him a group of 
men who would prove not blind leaders of the blind, but "fin- 
ished disciples" who would be like their teacher (Lk. 13 34 » 35 ). 
To the "finishing" of these foundation-stones of the fraternal 
community which he was aiming to build Jesus devoted a large 
part of his time and attention. Not only by friendship and 
teaching but also by definite practical work he endeavoured to 
make these disciples perfect even as their Master. This is 
undoubtedly one of the chief reasons why he sent them out two 
by two through the villages about Capernaum to preach and 
to do social work. This purpose also explains the strong en- 
thusiasm with which he greeted the report that their mission 
had proved successful (Mt. II 25 * 26 ): 

I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 

That thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent, 

And didst reveal them to babes. 

Yea, Father, for so it pleased thee. 

The chief bond which held together the members of this 
brotherhood was their personal devotion to Jesus; but he ever 
set loyalty to God in the forefront (Mk. 10 18 ). 

Next to loyalty to God he placed loyalty to the fraternal 
community as the commanding motive in their life and work to- 
gether. To their mutual love and friendship was added the 
joyous consciousness that their loyalty was bearing fruit. In 
view of the brevity of Jesus' Galilean ministry, it is clear that 



THE BROTHERHOOD AT CAPERNAUM 195 

the numbers of his followers must have increased with mar- 
vellous rapidity. Paul, the oldest New Testament writer, states 
in I Corinthians 15 5 that five hundred were gathered together 
soon after Jesus' death. This remarkable growth in the face of 
growing opposition and the distracting fear of persecution is the 
strongest possible testimony to the drawing power of the social 
ideals which Jesus held up before the men and women of Caper- 
naum, and to his supreme ability as a social leader and organ- 
iser. 

The Breadth of Jesus' Social Plan. Jesus' pathetic words, 
as he finally left the greater Capernaum to avoid the bitter 
attacks of the Pharisees and to escape the clutches of Herod 
Antipas, reveal clearly the hope and purpose with which he had 
gone to this great metropolis (Mt. II 20 - 24 ): 

Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his 
mighty deeds had been performed because they did not repent: 
'Woe to thee, Chorazin! Woe to thee, Bethsaida! for had the 
mighty deeds that have been performed in thee been performed 
in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack- 
cloth and ashes. Yet I tell you, Tyre an d Sidon shall find it more 
bearable on the day of judgment than you. And thou, Caper- 
naum, shalt thou be exalted to the sky ? Thou shalt go down to 
Hades! For had the mighty deeds performed in thee been per- 
formed in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Yet I 
tell thee the land of Sodom shall find it more bearable on the day 
of judgment than thou/ 

N 

The vivid narrative of Mark indicates that Jesus' early public 
work in Galilee was characterised by a buoyant optimism. As 
he said, he came to bring life, and it was difficult to believe that 
men loved darkness more than light. It was with surprise as 
well as with superlative sadness that he saw the multitudes in 
time fade away, and felt instead the treacherous toils of Herod 
Antipas tightening about him, even as they had about the 
valiant John the Baptist, while the deadly leaven of the Phar- 
isees threatened to penetrate even the ranks of his chosen dis- 
ciples. His tragic words addressed to Capernaum and its 



196 JESUS' AIMS AND METHODS 

suburbs indicate clearly that he had hoped not merely to save 
a few, but to touch and transform the heart of this community. 
In this large and representative centre of population he laboured 
to establish a great fraternity which would concretely illustrate 
the social principles which he proclaimed. In other words, Jesus 
hoped that the fraternal community which he founded would 
grow until it embraced the entire civic community. The fig- 
ure ("repent in sackcloth and ashes") which he employed in 
his address to Chorazin and Bethsaida was drawn from the 
vivid description in the book of Jonah of the complete repen- 
tance of the ancient city of Nineveh. It is also significant that 
in the lament just quoted Jesus dfeparted from his usual custom 
and addressed not individuals but cities. As he analysed the 
situation in the light of experience, he asserted that his plan 
of transforming and socialising these communities was not im- 
practicable. It had been only in part realised simply because 
they had failed to respond to his teachings and to the supreme 
opportunity which had been held out to them. 

From occasional references in the gospels it is evident that 
the Second Isaiah's marvellous picture of the servant of Je- 
hovah, who voluntarily and joyously gave himself to the ser- 
vice of humanity, made a profound impression upon Jesus. He 
evidently regarded it not as a messianic programme to be car- 
ried out in detail, but as the dramatic statement of an ulti- 
mate social principle. Its influence upon his thought appears 
to have been especially strong during his period of retirement 
after the close of his Galilean ministry, when he was weighing 
the wisdom of going up to Jerusalem. He finally decided to 
face death there in order to hold up his teachings vividly and 
dramatically before his nation in the hope that it might at last 
appreciate and accept them. He also went up to Jerusalem in 
order to transfer to the capital city itself the fraternal commu- 
nity which he had built up at Capernaum. 

As Jesus set out on his last heroic journey to Jerusalem we 
are told that (Lk. 13 31 - 34 ) 

At that very hour certain Pharisees came and said to him, 
'Go forth, leave this place, for Herod wishes to kill you.' But he 



BREADTH OF JESUS' SOCIAL PLAN 197 

said to them, 'Go and tell that fox, "Behold, I cast out demons 
and perform miracles to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day 
I am finished ! But to-day and to-morrow and on the following 
day I must go on my way, for it cannot be that a prophet perish 
outside Jerusalem ! " 

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! that kills the prophets 

And that stones those who are sent to her ! 

How often would I have gathered thy children together, 

Even as a fowl her brood under her wing, and you would not!' 

These tragic words indicate that Jesus had longed to see a 
far different outcome of his work. He had ardently hoped 
that his nation (which is here concretely represented by its 
capital city, Jerusalem) would not repeat the mistakes and 
crimes of the past, but would give ready ear to his teachings. 
He trusted that he would be able to gather together the diverse 
elements of his race, even as a bird her brood, and to establish 
with Jerusalem as its centre a happy, harmonious community 
that would live together under his paternal direction as one 
great family. That Jesus himself impressed his social plan 
on the minds of his immediate followers in this comprehensive 
form is the only satisfactory explanation of the fact that al- 
most immediately after his death scores if not hundreds of 
them left their Galilean homes and went up to the Jerusalem 
which had slain their Master, and founded there, in the face of 
poverty and bitter persecution, a fraternal community which 
survived until the capital city itself was left by Titus a mass of 
smoking ruins. 



XVIII 

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHRISTIAN 

CITIZEN 

Jesus' Estimate of the Value of Personality. The foun- 
dation of Jesus' social teachings is his profound estimate of 
the value of personality. He regarded every individual not 
as a mere automaton, nor simply as a member of a class, but 
as a person. It made no difference to him whether the in- 
dividual was a learned Pharisee, a high priest, a humble peas- 
ant, a despised tax collector, or an adulteress. He treated 
each with that superlative chivalry which was the one great 
redeeming quality of mediaeval Christianity. In him women 
and children found their best friend and champion. His words 
to those who were inclined to despise their humble or less gifted 
fellow men reveal his own attitude (Mt. 18 10 ) : 

See that you do not despise one of these little ones; 
For I tell you that their angels in heaven look ever on the face 
of my Father who is in heaven. 

In emphasising personality Jesus avoided two dangerous ex- 
tremes: the one is that of selfish individualism, which impels 
a man to regard the whole world simply as a great field to be 
reaped for his own benefit. Jesus pointed out the utter folly 
and fallacy of this philosophy of life in his paradoxical teach- 
ing (Mt. 16 25 ): 

He who finds his life shall lose it, 

And he who loses his life for my sake shall find it. 

He clearly saw and taught that equally fallacious was the 
opposite extreme of regarding men only as impersonal units 
to be herded together or exploited or sacrificed at the whim of/ 

198 



JESUS' ESTIMATE OF PERSONALITY 199 

a political or industrial tyrant. At the basis of his estimate of 
the importance of personality was the knowledge that each man 
was a son of God. His own close fellowship with his heavenly 
Father led him to look upon every man as his brother, and to 
regard him with the same loving interest that God himself 
feels in his children. Viewed through the eyes of love, the 
faults and sins of men could not conceal from him their essen- 
tial personality and potentiality. Jesus, however, was by no 
means blind to the blighting effect of ignorance and sin. In 
his thought they were the only real evils in all the universe. 

It is also clear that he did not devote his attention to the 
"lost sheep of the house of Israel" simply because they were 
weak and sinful. No teacher in human history ever held up 
with greater insistence the pragmatic standard of values. 
"By their fruits you shall know them" was the test to which 
he submitted every life. Christianity during its varied his- 
tory has sometimes made the mistake of fostering weakness 
and inefficiency, even at the expense of the strong and able, but 
it has never done so on the authority of Jesus. He went to 
the weak and sinful because he saw in them divine potential- 
ities. What is more, he developed these potentialities. The 
sick he made strong; the demoniacs, under the influence of his 
faith-inspiring personality, recovered their reason and again 
took up their tasks as efficient members of society; the grafting 
Zaccheus was transformed into a public benefactor; the adul- 
teress was allowed to go forth to redeem her virtue by honest 
living. Profoundly true is the declaration of the Fourth 
Gospel that his supreme aim was that men might have life, 
and that in abundant measure. 

Jesus' Doctrine of Social Individualism. With the ex- 
treme socialistic position, which tends to relieve the individual of 
his personal responsibilities and to treat men in the mass rather 
than as distinct personalities, Jesus had no sympathy. The doc- 
trine of man which he set forth conserves all that is significant 
in both individualism and constructive socialism. It may, 
indeed, be designated as social individualism. He advocated 
the largest degree of individual freedom. His whole effort was 



200 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

to deliver men from the bonds of wrong beliefs, evil habits, 
baseless fears, and all the unnatural restrictions which conven- 
tional religion and organised society had built up around them. 
Well has the Fourth Gospel voiced his purpose (Jn. 8 32 ) : 

You shall know the truth, 

And the truth shall make you free. 

No teacher in human history worked more earnestly to se- 
cure full liberty for the individual than did he; but none em- 
phasised more strongly man's social responsibilities. He taught 
that it was impossible for a man to express himself fully except 
in the service of his fellows. Liberty with him was freedom 
to serve. That individualism which expresses itself in self-in- 
dulgence or license or in selfish exploitation of others means 
not freedom but bondage for the individual himself as well as 
for his victims. Man's most valuable right is the right to con- 
tribute to the well-being of society. The majority of Jesus' 
teachings, therefore, are devoted to defining the individual's 
social responsibilities. Paradoxical though it may seem, he 
claimed for each man a larger liberty than the most ardent in- 
dividualist could ask. At the same time, he laid on the in- 
dividual social responsibilities which make the demands of 
socialism seem mild indeed. 

The Importance of Developing a Complete Personality. 
It is possible that Jesus' interest in the development of human 
personality was in part due to the fact that for ten or fifteen 
years his trade appears to have been that of a master builder. 
The task of a carpenter in Nazareth was not merely to rear 
new structures; for the most part it was to repair buildings 
which had fallen into decay. Even though he may not have 
approved the unsocial motive, it is probable that he was oc- 
casionally called in by the rich villagers of Nazareth to "tear 
down their barns and build larger." His occupation, therefore, 
developed interest and skill in the art of reconstruction. The 
transfer of this interest from material things to men was natural. 
He aimed to help all with whom he came in contact to attain 
the largest, fullest self-realisation. 



DEVELOPING PERSONALITY 201 

The twelve whom he associated with him most closely were 
commonplace men whom no one else would have selected as 
the leaders in a great world movement. He himself called 
them "babes/' Some of them, like Matthew the tax col- 
lector, sadly needed moral repair. It was simply as a result 
of Jesus' fostering influence that they achieved the seemingly 
impossible. Throughout its history one of the marked char- 
acteristics of the Christian religion has been its power so to 
develop and transform the weak ones of earth that they have 
often been able "to confound the wise." Sometimes the re- 
sults seem miraculous, but when the ultimate facts are known 
it is evident that what Christian faith has done is simply to 
develop the diviner possibilities latent in every man. In bring- 
ing out these possibilities Jesus knew well the value of confi- 
dence and sympathy. He genuinely believed in men, and that 
belief made them loyal. The wisdom of his method is well 
proven by the fact that even in the hour of disappointment and 
seeming failure only one of his disciples proved faithless. 

The Fundamental Importance of Socialised Thinking and 
Feeling. In his effort to develop social citizens Jesus laid the 
chief emphasis on the importance of right thinking and feeling. 
In so doing he brought to complete fulfilment certain tendencies 
inherited from the earlier teachers of his race. The last com- 
mand of the prophetic decalogue, " Thou shalt not covet," trans- 
ferred the emphasis from the external act to the realm of feel- 
ing. Jesus defined all of man's social responsibilities in terms of 
individual thought and motive. He also taught convincingly 
that the roots of abiding social reform are ethical. In thus 
grounding his social teachings in individual ethics and in em- 
phasising right personal thinking and feeling as the first essen- 
tial to right social living, he anticipated the most important 
scientific conclusions of modern psychology and sociology. 
"As a man thinks, so is he," was a succinct statement of this 
fundamental principle. To this he added, in practice at least, 
the equally comprehensive principle : as are the individuals who 
compose society, so is that society itself. 

In transferring the emphasis from acts to motives Jesus 



202 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

broke definitely with the older lawgivers of his race. This in- 
dependence is well illustrated in his teachings regarding the 
supremely unsocial act of murder (Mt. 5 21 » 22 ) : 

You have heard that it was said by the men of old, 'Thou shalt 
not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to the local court.' But 
I say to you, 

'Every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the 

local court; 
And whoever says to his brother, " Ignoramus!" shall be liable 

to the Sanhedrin. 
And whoever says to his brother, "Fool!" shall be liable to the 

Gehenna of fire.' 

Again Jesus emphasises the importance of the principle by 
the use of hyperbole. Human laws are able to deal only with 
definite acts ; but to make clear his point Jesus declared that the 
individual who even for a moment cherishes in his heart the 
unsocial impulse of anger toward his brother is committing a 
crime which at least deserves to be punished by the public 
courts. If he goes so far as to intensify that feeling by giving 
expression to it by the use of such a mild word as " stupid " or 
"ignoramus," he is in reality committing a capital crime which 
deserves to be brought before the supreme tribunal of his na- 
tion. If he intensifies this unsocial feeling by giving utterance 
to it through the bitter, contemptuous word "fool," he is com- 
mitting a crime which can be properly punished only by the 
divine tribunal. By these rigorous means the great social 
Teacher sought to check at their source the malign impulses 
which destroy the peace and welfare of society as well as the 
happiness and social efficiency of the individual. With true 
psychological insight he recognised that external expression 
adds fuel to the flame of anger, and that the only way to extin- 
guish it is to suppress it at the very beginning. 

The Ultimate Motive That Prompts Social Thinking and 
Feeling. In his analysis of the causes of crime, Jesus was 
evidently guided by his lofty estimate of the value of person- 



SOCIAL THINKING 203 

ality. In the case of that most heinous of crimes, adultery, he 

also dealt simply with the motive which prompted it (Mt. 
527.28). 

You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt not commit 
adultery,' but I say unto you, 'Every man who looks at a woman 
lustfully has committed adultery with her already in his heart/ 

Again, he taught that it is easier to check a conflagration at 
the beginning than after it has gained headway. It is the lust- 
ful feeling that leads to adultery. To entertain this feeling, 
even for a moment, is in itself a crime, for it not only lures the 
individual on to commit the most unsocial of acts, but it tends 
to destroy all reverence for the personality of the one thus re- 
garded. If, on the other hand, the lustful feeling is immediately 
checked, adultery is impossible. The only sure deterrent of this 
feeling is not the fear of personal consequences, but a true re- 
gard for the personality of the one whom the passion, if in- 
dulged, would fatally injure. Thus Jesus' exalted yet true 
estimate of the personality of each individual, however fallen 
he or she may be, transforms his followers into valiant pro- 
tectors and saviours even of the "lost sheep" of the human 
family. 

The Fundamental Social Virtues: Sincerity. Jesus has 
given a composite yet vivid portrait of the essential character- 
istics of the truly social citizen. The foundation is absolute 
truthfulness and sincerity. Evidently Jesus had this quality 
in mind when he gave the broad command (Mt. 5 37 ) : 

Let what you say be 'Yes' for 'Yes,' or 'No' for 'No'; 
Whatever exceeds that is from the evil one. 

The deep-seated Oriental custom of supporting a statement by 
elaborate oaths found no favour with Jesus. He recognised that 
truth is beclouded by these childish devices. The simple word 
of the Christian citizen means far more than a multiplicity of 
oaths. Back of this teaching lies Jesus' ideal of absolute sin- 
cerity, which he in his own spirit and character peerlessly il- 



204 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

lustrates. Humanity is only just beginning to appreciate the 
transcendent importance and social significance of this primary 
quality of truthfulness. Any society composed of citizens who 
habitually or deliberately pervert the truth is built on the shift- 
ing sands. 

Charitable Judgment. Jesus went deep into the analysis of 
the evils which dismember society. Chief among these are the 
class and national hatreds due to ignorance, unjust suspicion, 
or hasty incrimination. Hence he sought to check these un- 
social crimes at their fountain-source. He did not for a mo- 
ment deny the importance of making sound estimates of our 
fellow men. Such judgments are necessary before we can offer 
to "pull the splinters" out of their eyes. He dealt rather with 
the motives which should govern us in forming judgments. He 
was trying to free men from the tendency, which they inherit 
from their childhood, of harshly condemning others for prac- 
tices which they readily overlook or condone in themselves. 
Above all, he was endeavouring to transform the censorious 
attitude into one of brotherly helpfulness (Mt. 7 1 - 5 ): 

Judge not, 

That you may not be judged; 
For with what judgment you judge, 
You shall be judged, 
And with what measure you measure, 
It shall be measured to you. 
Why look at the splinter in your brother's eye, 
And consider not the beam in your own eye? 
Or how will you say to your brother, 
'Come, let me pull the splinter out of your eye/ 
When behold the beam is in your own eye? 
Hypocrite ! first pull the beam out of your own eye; 
Then you shall see clearly to pull the splinter out of your brother's 
eye. 

Helpful, constructive criticism is a noble social virtue, for it 
is the fruit of sincerity, good judgment, and good will. 

Forgiveness. The most rampant and perilous social crime 
in Jesus' day was hate. Party hatred had dismembered the old 



FORGIVENESS • 205 

Maccabean kingdom and brought the Jews under the galling 
Roman rule. Hatred of Rome had led to repeated and disas- 
trous rebellions. As the event proved, that same hatred was 
soon destined to destroy the Jewish state and send the Jews 
forth anew a race without a country. It is not strange, there- 
fore, that Jesus repeatedly and dramatically emphasised the 
virtue of forgiveness. As a social psychologist he also knew 
how completely hate paralyses the social efficiency of the in- 
dividual and disrupts and destroys society. In the great prayer 
which he gave his disciples he taught them to say (Lk. II 4 ): 

'Forgive us our debts; for we also forgive each one who is in- 
debted to us/ 

Jesus asserted in many different ways that each man is his 
brother's keeper. He combated hate by arousing the spirit of 
brotherly helpfulness. To the supreme social obligation to 
forgive he would admit no limit (Mt. 18 15 , Lk. 17 4 , Mt. 18 21 - M ): 

Now if your brother sin, 

Go show him his fault between yourself and him alone; 
If he listen to you, you have won over your brother. 
And if he sin against you seven times in the day, 
And turns back to you seven times, saying, 'I repent/ 
You shall forgive him. 

Then Peter came and said to him, 'Lord, how often is my brother 
to sin against me and I am to forgive him, up to seven times?' 
Jesus said to him, 'I say not to you, Up to seven times, but up to 
seventy times seven.' 

Jesus evidently placed this extreme emphasis on forgiveness 
because he recognised that it was a positive force in conquering 
evil. He was not only seeking to save the angry man from his 
passion but also to teach him how to win his brother. 

Love for Enemies. The old law of Leviticus 19 18 had taught, 
" Love your neighbour." Deuteronomy had added the foreign- 
ers who had made their permanent home in Israel to this 
favoured circle. Ben Sira. enlarged this social group when he 



206 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

taught, " Love your servant." It remained, however, for Jesus 
to complete the circle by adding the sweeping command, " Love 
your enemies" (Mt. 5 43-47 ): 

You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
and hate thine enemy/ But I tell you: 

'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

That you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven; 

For he maketh his sun rise upon evil and good, 

And sendeth rain upon just and unjust/ 

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you ? 

Do not even the tax collectors do the same ? 

And if you salute your brothers only, what are you doing beyond 

others ? 
Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 

In the social order which Jesus endeavoured to establish there 
was absolutely no place for hate, even toward enemies; for he 
realised that hate is not only unsocial, but that it destroys the 
peace of mind and weakens the strength of the one who cherishes 
it. His words indicate that he knew that to love enemies and 
pray for persecutors was one of the chief tests of those who are 
striving to be in every sense sons of the divine Father. The 
motive which alone makes this attitude possible is gratitude 
and loyalty to God on the one hand, and on the other a clear 
recognition of the fact that hate destroys one's ability to serve 
society. In the great human family which Jesus was endeavour- 
ing to reorganise, good will must reign supreme if his ideal is to 
be attained. He held up no mediating standard. As he in his 
own experience realised, complete fatherhood demanded com- 
plete sonship. The synthesis of all his teachings regarding the 
Christian citizen is found in his lofty and comprehensive com- 
mand (Mt. 5 48 ) : 

You are to be perfect, then, 

Even as your heavenly Father is perfect. 

Love for All Men. Like the earlier Jewish sages, Jesus 
constantly endeavoured to gather up the fundamental prin- 



LOVE FOR ALL MEN 207 

ciples of life in a brief, condensed statement. The essence of 
the Old Testament legislation he declared might be summarised 
in the dual command to love God and to love one's neighbour. 
He realised that the supreme expression of love to God is the 
love of and service to one's fellow men. Hence the Golden Rule 
stands as the briefest and most complete summary of the social 
teachings of the prophets and Jesus (Mt. 7 12 ) : 

All things, therefore, that you would have men do to you, 
So do you also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. 

This "royal law of love," as it is aptly designated by the au- 
thor of the epistle of James, is as practically applicable as it is 
comprehensive. It demands that each Christian citizen shall 
place the interests of every other man on absolute equality with 
his own. Theoretically society has long recognised the identity 
of these interests, but Jesus proposed to make this fact a work- 
ing basis. True to his ideal of social individualism, he did not 
ask any man to debase or obliterate his own personality. In- 
stead, he asked him to respect it supremely, but at the same 
time to regard the personality of every other human being with 
equal consideration. As a practical working principle in aiding 
each man to overcome his own abnormal egoism this law has 
no equal; for in putting himself in the other man's place he in- 
evitably forgets his own selfish impulses, and his will is guided 
by the new idea which is thus placed in the centre of focus. 
The first essential, therefore, in the practical application of this 
royal law of love is a trained imagination which enables the 
Christian citizen to put himself in the place of the many varied 
types of men with whom he comes in contact. It calls, also, 
for impartial justice, as well as genuine love and sympathy. 
Like all virtues, that of putting oneself in the other man's place 
can be cultivated until it develops into a habit. The true 
Christian citizen is he who has so fixed this habit that in all his 
contacts with foes as well as with friends he responds naturally 
and unconsciously to the law of love. 

The Attitude of Non-Resentment. Jesus' oft-discussed 
teaching regarding non-resistance is but a dramatic and hyper- 



208 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

bolic illustration of his law of love. His aim was to free his fol- 
lowers absolutely from the older and still prevalent rule of force, 
whose motive power was anger or a spirit of revenge (Mt. 

g38 -42). 

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth 
for a tooth/ But I tell you: 

'Resist not the evil man; 
But whoever smites you on the right cheek, 
Turn to him the other also. 

If any one wishes to sue you for the possession of your coat, 
Let him have your cloak also. 
Whosoever shall force you to go one mile, 
Go two with him. 
Give to him who asks of you, 
And turn not away from him who would borrow of you.' 

Tolstoi and certain other modern pacificists have interpreted 
this passage with a blind literalness which has obscured its real 
meaning. They have thereby kept many thoughtful men from 
accepting the leadership of Jesus. Obviously this passage must 
be interpreted in the light of Jesus' other acts. No one could be 
more stern than was he in his denunciation of the hypocritical 
Pharisees and in his open rebuke and attack directed against 
the grafting high priests. Here, as in all his teachings regard- 
ing the social duties of the individual, he was chiefly concerned 
with a man's personal feeling and attitude. He was endeavour- 
ing to substitute for hate the spirit of non-resentment. With 
true psychological insight he saw that even as the clenched fist 
begets anger, so the attitude of non-resistance is the most ef- 
fective factor in developing this spirit of non-resentment. He 
taught in this hyperbolic way that no matter how great the 
affront, no wise man can afford for a moment to cherish or give 
expression to hatred toward his fellow man. Rather he should 
be eager to do anything for the sake of his brother, even though 
that brother be an arrant aggressor. WTien this attitude has 
been developed in the mind of the Christian who has been 
wronged the main object of Jesus' teaching has been realised. 



NON-RESENTMENT 209 

The way in which the Christian should deal with his erring 
brother will now be determined in accordance with the law of 
love. In dealing with the ignorant or dangerous criminal, not 
his selfish desire, but the calm, enlightened, sympathetic judg- 
ment of the Christian citizen or community must decide what 
treatment is best for the man who has gone astray. In most 
cases, as experience has amply demonstrated, non-resistance, 
prompted by good will, is the most potent agent in disarming 
aggressive force. No true Christian citizen will hesitate to use 
it to the uttermost. At the same time he must be loyal to the 
highest demands of the Golden Rule. If non-resistance will 
not disarm the unprincipled aggressor, this law may sometimes 
call for the discipline of force. The resort to force is so in- 
stinctive, however, and anger and resentment so often take the 
place of love and impartial justice, that Jesus showed his pre- 
eminent wisdom as a social teacher in placing the emphasis 
where he did. Clearly his aim in all his. teachings on this much- 
discussed subject was not to thwart justice nor to prejudge any 
individual case, but to forestall hate by teaching his followers 
never to cease loving their worst enemies, even though they be 
the most debased criminals. Only when love is thus enthroned 
is impartial justice assured. 

Jesus' Illustration of Social Citizenship. The majority 
of Jesus' social teachings were devoted to creating the neigh- 
bourly attitude. He gave one classic illustration, however, of 
the Christian citizen in action. It was precipitated by the 
question of a certain lawyer who had come to Jesus for a specific 
prescription that would insure him a title to future blessedness. 
The young man, like Hillel, whom he probably regarded as 
his master, already recognised that the fundamental require- 
ment was love to God and one's neighbour. Being a narrow 
religious aristocrat, who probably heartily despised and hated 
all Gentiles and Samaritans, he turned upon Jesus with the 
burning question, "Who is my neighbour?" It is evident that 
Jesus was keenly alive to the learned lawyer's intellectual and 
religious limitations. Not only did the man hate a goodly por- 
tion of his fellow men, but he, like most of the scribes of his day, 



210 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN 

was obsessed with the ceremonial conception of religion. In his 
thought the priests and the Levites were the most conspicuous 
examples of piety, and the Samaritans were little better than 
pagans. Jesus wasted no time in stripping him of his false pre- 
possessions. At the same time he gave him a concrete defini- 
tion of true religion in action which has no equal in literature 
(Lk. 10 30 - 37 ): 

A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and 
he fell in with robbers, who even stripped him, and after beating 
him, went off, leaving him half dead. Now it happened that a 
certain priest was going down by that road; but when he saw him, 
he went past on the opposite side. And in the same way a 
Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, went past on the 
opposite side. But a certain Samaritan, travelling, came to where 
he was. And on seeing him, he bound up his wounds, pouring on 
them oil and wine. And putting him on his own beast, he brought 
him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the following day 
he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 
'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay 
you when I return/ Which of these three do you think proved 
himself the neighbour to him who fell in with the robbers? He 
said, 'The man who dealt mercifully with him.' Jesus said to 
him, 'Go, and do likewise/ 

This familiar parable presents its great teachings so plainly 
that they need little interpretation. In the presence of real 
human need no racial prejudices can deter the truly social citi- 
zen. Petty and absurd seem the ceremonial interpretations of 
religion (represented by the priest and Levite) in contrast with 
that love for man which prompts immediate action. The Sa- 
maritan gives not merely his money, he gives himself and his 
own personal possessions, quickly, spontaneously, and whole- 
heartedly. Like a brother, he puts himself in the other man's 
place and generously supplies those needs of which the wounded 
man was scarcely conscious. In rendering help he uses in the 
most scientific way the resources at his disposal. He gives 
freely, but not in a way to pauperise the object of his charity. 
His sympathetic imagination even anticipates the poor man's 



ILLUSTRATION OF SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP 211 

future needs, but he gives only what is necessary to set the 
stricken man on his feet. When he has done this the Samaritan 
hastens on his way, for he is a busy man and faithful to all his 
social obligations. 



XIX 

JESUS' APPRECIATION OF THE SOCIAL VALUES OF 
RECREATION AND POPULAR AMUSEMENTS 

Jesus' Own Enjoyment of Wholesome Recreation. Me- 
diaeval thought and art have sadly obscured the real person- 
ality of Jesus. Under the influence of this alien ascetic note 
they have pictured him as pre-eminently a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. To him have been attributed all the 
characteristics of a mediseval saint. Nothing could be more 
misleading or pernicious. Jesus was indeed acquainted with 
sorrow, but it was by no means a dominant note in his active 
life. When temptation and opposition came to him, he met 
them heroically and triumphantly. His was the joy of the con- 
queror and the exhilaration of one who achieves, so that even 
pain and struggle were to him but the steps that lead to the 
highest types of happiness. Fortunately in the early Marcan 
narrative there remain many vivid, first-hand impressions of 
the personality of him whose message was pre-eminently one 
of good tidings. Not the least of the charms which drew all 
men to him were his abounding optimism and his strong human 
interests. 

Chief among the charges which the Pharisees flung at Jesus 
was that he associated with all classes, and especially during 
their hours of social recreation. To use an expressive modern 
term, he was naturally a "good mixer/' a man among men. 
There is no evidence that he ever refused an invitation to a 
banquet. Undoubtedly he entered this open door that leads 
directly to the hearts of men because he wished to win them, 
but he could not have done so with such grace and success had 
he not thoroughly enjoyed mingling with them and sharing 
their social joys. Tireless worker that he was, he took genuine 

212 



JESUS' ENJOYMENT OF RECREATION 213 

pleasure in all forms of wholesome recreation. No one delighted 
more than he in the good fellowship of the banquet or wedding- 
feast at which the spirit of genuine hospitality prevailed. The 
real Jesus who won the unbounded loyalty of the Galilean 
peasants and of the varied population of Capernaum was not 
an emaciated mediaeval type of saint but a rugged, stalwart/^ 
man of the hills, browned by the hot Palestinian suns, s!hd 
keenly alive to all the beauties of nature and the joys of life. 

Jesus' Sense of Humour. The modern age is at last be- 
ginning to appreciate fully the humanising and socialising value 
of humour. No one can read Jesus' teachings with open mind 
without being impressed by the spontaneous and kindly humour 
which is constantly bubbling forth. Amusing because gro- 
tesquely absurd is the figure of casting priceless pearls before 
swine, which in antiquity, as to-day, did not have the reputa- 
tion of being gifted with a highly developed aesthetic apprecia- 
tion! The picture of the pompous man who took the front 
seat in the banquet-hall and then was invited to sit lower ap- 
peals strongly to the universal sense of humour. The facile 
way in which Jesus escaped the carefully laid snares of the 
scribes and Pharisees must have proved a great source of amuse- 
ment to his disciples and to the people. His flashing wit en- 
abled him to turn upon his assailants the very weapons with 
which they attacked him. 

Equally effective were the striking hyperboles which Jesus 
constantly employed, as for example, that of an awkward camel, 
the most ludicrous of beasts, trying to get through the eye of 
a needle. The vivid portrait of the man with perverted moral 
vision, who irritated his friends by trying to strain out a tiny 
gnat but who was ready to swallow a huge camel, appeals to 
the pity and risibilities of the modern man as well as to Jesus' 
first-century audience. Equally ludicrous were those who were 
officiously eager to extract the infinitesimal splinter from the 
eye of a friend, while their own eye contained a huge beam — 
the great rafter which supported the roof of an Oriental house. 
Jesus performed an inestimable service for the sad and sin- 
stricken Jews in his audiences, for he taught them to laugh to- 



214 JESUS' APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

gether and to see how ridiculous were the follies that obsessed 
them. 

The Joyous Life of the Capernaum Community. The old- 
est narratives testify that Jesus' life with his disciples was 
especially full of joy and good fellowship. This spirit was one 
of the potent forces which attracted and permanently held his 
followers. They had no heart for the ceremonies which were 
usually associated with sorrow and long faces. Jesus himself 
spoke in defense of their joyousness, even though they were 
bitterly criticised by the Pharisees because they did not spend 
time in fasting (Mk. 2 18 - 22 ): 

And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they 
came and said to him, 'Why do the disciples of John and the dis- 
ciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples fast not ? ' And Jesus 
said to them, 'Can bridal guests fast while the bridegroom is' with 
them ? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they can- 
not fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be 
taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. No 
one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old garment, lest the 
piece tear away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear 
is made. And no man puts new wine into old wine skins; else 
the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wine 
skins be destroyed. Instead one puts new wine into fresh wine 
skins/ 

Thus Jesus likened his life with his disciples to a wedding- 
feast. To appreciate the strength of this figure it is important 
to remember that a wedding was by far the most joyous social 
function in Jewish life. He declared that as long as he remained 
with his disciples this spirit of jubilant good fellowship would 
prevail — in fact that anything else was impossible. He also 
described their communal life as "new wine" in contrast to 
the rather sombre exacting, punctilious life which Judaism im- 
posed upon its followers. It is clear that the men and women 
who joined the fraternal community at Capernaum did so not 
under the sense of stern compulsion but because they found it 
irresistibly attractive. 



WHOLESOME AMUSEMENT 215 

Jesus' Commendation of All Forms of Wholesome Amuse- 
ment. It is a significant fact that banquets and social functions 
figure largely in the parables with which Jesus illustrated his 
most important teachings. Even the parable of the Prodigal 
Son ends with a great banquet to which the father summons 
all his friends to make merry with him. Clearly one of the 
chief ingredients which the "new wine" brought to his race was 
this spirit of wholesome recreation. Contemporary Judaism 
was bitterly opposed to most forms of popular amusement and 
especially to those which brought delight to the Grseco-Roman 
world. In contrast to the rabbis, Jesus apparently uttered no 
word of protest against the sports of the stadium and amphi- 
theatre, which even in Jerusalem itself rivalled the attractions 
of the Jewish temple. The silence of the gospel narratives is 
not of course in itself decisive, but Paul's many references to 
them are richly suggestive, and indicate that Jesus' greatest 
follower found in these sports much innocent delight. Every- 
thing which tended in a wholesome way to enlarge life and to 
develop personality also received his approval, even though it 
may have been condemned by the religious leaders of his race. 

Jesus' words and acts indicate that he was aware of the im- 
portance of play in enlarging and developing the life of the in- 
dividual. This appreciation best explains the irresistible way 
in which children were drawn to him. His interest in their 
amusements is well illustrated by that vivid picture of the chil- 
dren playing their games in the streets which he used in de- 
scribing the fickleness of his contemporaries (Mt. II 16 " 19 ): 

To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children 
sitting in the market places, who call their playmates and say, 
'We piped to you but you did not dance. We lamented but you 
did not beat your breast.' For John came neither eating nor 
drinking and men say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came 
eating and drinking and men say, 'Here is a glutton and a wine- 
drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! ' 

Only one who had watched with kindly interest children at 
play and had as a boy himself participated in their sports 



216 JESUS' APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

would use this homely illustration in discussing the vital ques- 
tion at issue. If we had a complete record of Jesus' teachings 
and life, many similar illustrations would undoubtedly be at 
hand to demonstrate his keen interest in all forms of harmless 
recreation and amusement. 

Jesus' Condemnation of the So-Called Amusements That 
Are Harmful. As a rule Jesus emphasised that which was 
good, and trusted that men who accepted his philosophy of 
living would instinctively reject the evil. In his day most forms 
of popular amusement were under state direction. Then the 
vast hordes of commercialised popular amusements, which to- 
day are taking not only the money but the time and in many 
cases the moral purity of the multitude, were not so highly 
organised. But the tendency to prey on the innate human 
fondness for play and amusement was evident even in that 
ancient life. Therefore, to those who simply for commercial 
reasons exploit and pervert this natural instinct, and to those 
who through neglect permit these great wrongs to exist, the 
principle underlying Jesus' words of warning applies even more 
forcibly to-day than in the first Christian century (Lk. 17 1 * 2 ): 

It is inevitable that temptations should come, 

But woe to him through whom they come ! 

It were better for him that a millstone were fastened about his- 

neck, 
And he were thrown into the sea, 
Than that he should be a source of temptation to any of these 

little ones. 

In combating the temptations presented by vicious amuse- 
ments Jesus staked his faith pre-eminently on the individual. 
In the ultimate analysis, their power to injure a man depends 
entirely upon his personal attitude and choice. Jesus' appreci- 
ation of the importance of choosing the good and rejecting the 
evil is indicated by the dramatic form in which he expressed 
this teaching (Mk. 9 43 ' 47 ) : 

Should your hand cause you to stumble, cut it off. It is better 
for you to enter life maimed than for you with your two hands to 



HARMFUL AMUSEMENTS 217 

go away into Gehenna into the unquenchable fire. And should 
your foot cause you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to 
enter life lame than with your two feet to be cast into Gehenna. 
And should your eye cause you to stumble, cast it out. It is 
better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with 
two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna. 

The logic is irrefutable. Men do not hesitate to resort to 
surgery to escape extreme physical ills. Why not also to escape 
the more deadly moral ills ? By means of this dramatic anal- 
ogy Jesus aimed to arouse men from their lethargy regarding 
moral values. He taught them to sacrifice everything else in 
order to preserve their honour and purity and clarity of vision 
— all those qualities which stand for upright character. 

Jesus* Rejection of the Pharisaic Interpretation of the 
Sabbath. The question of Sabbath observance was as vital 
and as hotly discussed in the first Christian century as it is 
to-day. In the years following the Babylonian exile the Sab- 
bath had become one of the chief institutions of Judaism. 
With misguided zeal the later scribes and rabbis had endeav- 
oured to preserve its sanctity by hedging it about with a vast 
number of rigid regulations. The huge structure of laws which 
they had reared about it had almost entirely obscured its real 
value and significance. Jesus, inspired by his profound appreci- 
ation of the paramount importance of developing personality, 
entirely rejected this institutional conception of the Sabbath 
and estimated it simply on the basis of its social and religious 
value to the individual. In so doing he took his stand squarely 
with the earlier prophets in opposition to its institutional inter- 
pretation by the priests and Pharisees. A vivid presentation of 
his position is found in Mark 2 23 - 28 : 

And it came to pass that he was going on the Sabbath day 
through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, 
to pluck the ears. And the Pharisees said to him, 'Behold, why 
do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?' And 
he said to them, 'Have you never read what David did, when he 
had need and both he and those with him were hungry ? how he 



218 JESUS' APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

entered into the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, 
and ate the showbread, which only the priests may eat, and gave 
also to those with him?' And he said to them, 'The Sabbath 
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; and so the son 
of man is also lord of the Sabbath.' 

Thus with one stroke Jesus did away with the old ceremonial 
interpretation which made the Sabbath a day of bondage, and 
proclaimed it to be God's good gift to man. Unfortunately it 
has taken his followers more than eighteen centuries fully to 
appreciate his position. Our present conception of the Sab- 
bath is still befogged by the fact that our Puritan forefathers 
followed the Pharisees rather than Jesus in interpreting the aim 
and value of this day of rest. By his practice as well as in his 
teaching Jesus declared that the Sabbath is made for man. 
To the utter horror of his Pharisaic critics, he apparently re- 
doubled on that day his acts of healing and helpful services. 
To their criticisms he replied with what was to them an un- 
answerable question (Mk. 3 4 ): 

Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm? to 
save a life or to kill ? 

It is evident that Jesus and his critics were thinking on en- 
tirely different levels. Their idea that the Sabbath was an 
institution before which all men must slavishly bow was as 
repulsive to him as were many of the old Jewish ceremonial 
rites, which he quietly rejected. Paul doubtless reflects the 
spirit of his Master in regarding the conscientious scruples of 
the man who "rates one day above another." The apostle 
himself evidently "rated all days alike" (Rom. 14 5 ). The same 
attitude toward this Jewish institution is reflected in what may 
well be an original teaching of Jesus. It is preserved in one of 
the best Western texts (Codex Bezse) of Luke 6 5 and recurs in 
the sayings of Jesus recently discovered in Egypt: 

Observing a man at work on the Sabbath, he said to him, 'Man, 
if you know what you are doing, happy are you; but if you do 
not know, you are cursed and a transgressor of the law.' 



USE OF THE SABBATH 219 

Jesus' Example and Teachings Regarding the Larger 
Use of the Sabbath. Jesus not only swept away the ancient 
prohibitions which made the Jewish Sabbath a day of repression 
and anxiety, but he also gave to it a rich and positive meaning. 
It is significant that on that day he took his disciples out into 
the fields into touch with nature. He encouraged them in the 
free expression of their harmless natural impulses, even though 
in plucking the ears of grain they were deliberately disregard- 
ing the Pharisaic prohibitions. In the light of this specific 
example it is difficult to conceive that Jesus would have frowned 
on any use of the Sabbath which gives to toiling men rest and 
wholesome recreation without depriving other men of their right- 
ful rest. It is also clear, in view of his profound emphasis on 
the importance of developing human personality, that he would 
have insisted that the form of recreation be not only wholesome, 
but adapted to the higher needs of each individual. The method 
which Jesus followed with his disciples also indicates that he 
appreciated the importance of change and variety in order to 
develop the entire man. 

No teacher ever emphasised more strongly than did he the 
higher ajid more abiding sources of joy and re-creation. He 
himself set the example of attending the synagogue on the Sab- 
bath; but he did not stop with this merely conventional act. 
The Sabbath was for him a day of rich spiritual experience and 
activity. He made it, in the largest sense, "a day of joy and 
gladness." He taught by his acts that man's lordship of the 
Sabbath involved large responsibilities. Each hour of this 
unique day of rest was to be used, not only for the highest 
development of the individual, but also for the fullest service 
of his fellows. The great task remains for his followers to in- 
terpret the social spirit and attitude of Jesus toward the Sab- 
bath into the terms of our complex modern life, and to make it 
again, not a day hedged in by prohibitions and shrouded by 
gloom, but in every sense a day of rest and growth and joyous 
service. 

Jesus' Analysis of the Sources of Real Happiness. The 
well-being and happiness of both the individual and of society 



220 JESUS* APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

were the ultimate goals of all of Jesus' teaching and work. He, 
as none other, recognised that happiness and social efficiency are 
indissolubly connected, and that happy citizens insure a happy 
and prosperous society. None ever analysed as fully as did he 
the sources of individual happiness. He put the results of his 
analysis into a series of terse, often paradoxical beatitudes, 
which present, in striking contrast to the current ideas, the 
profound results of his observation and experience. He recog- 
nised that, as has been said, true happiness is a by-product and 
that those who go in hot pursuit of it rarely find it. Amuse- 
ment and recreation are but a few of the many contributing 
causes. The ultimate source of real happiness is right thinking 
and living and doing. The beatitudes aim to define the right 
ways of thinking and living. The Greek word usually translated 
"blessed" really means "O how divinely happy!" 

The first four of Jesus' beatitudes deal with man's personal 
attitude toward life; the second four deal with his relations to 
his fellow men. In the first beatitude Jesus emphasised the 
importance of a right estimate of one's self and of the receptive 
attitude toward God and toward life (Mt. 5 3 ): 

Happy the poor in spirit ! 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

The characteristic here described is the opposite of pride 
and self-assertion. It is the quality absolutely essential as a 
basis for good citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Not in 
some distant future, but indeed in the present, the privilege of 
sharing in its joys comes to those who seek in the varied acts of 
life to live in accord with the will and purpose of God. To them 
is assured that harmonious adjustment to their divine and hu- 
man environment which is the first essential of true happiness. 

Even more paradoxical is the axiomatic truth embodied in 
the second beatitude (Mt. 5 4 ) : 

Happy are they who mourn ! 
For they shall be comforted. 



SOURCES OF REAL HAPPINESS 221 

As in Isaiah 61, they who mourn are those whose minds are 
filled with lofty aspirations both for themselves and for society. 
The source of their comfort is the attainment of these ideals; 
and with that attainment comes the joy which is shared only by 
those who long for the loftiest and divinest gifts. 

In the third beatitude Jesus endeavoured to define man's 
normal attitude toward personal honours and material pos- 
sessions (Mt. 5 5 ): 

Happy are the meek 1 

For they shall inherit the earth. 

He who is ever looking out for his own material or personal 
interest has no time for anything else. His fellow men also in- 
stantly recognise him as a rival to be combated rather than 
helped. But the man whose merit outruns his claims wins the 
confidence of all and has in every man an ardent champion, so 
that in the end far more of the really good things of life come 
to him than to the insistent self-seeker. This fact is clearly 
expressed by Jesus in the epigram: 

Every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, 
And he who humbles himself shall be exalted. 

The fourth beatitude is clearly akin to the second (Mt. 5 6 ) : 

r 

Happy are they who are hungry and thirsting for righteousness I 
For they shall be satisfied. 

The strong figure that is here employed expresses intense 
desire and complete satisfaction. Underlying this beatitude is 
the eternal fact that righteousness is absolutely essential to the 
happiness both of the individual and of society and can be at- 
tained only by those who intently seek it. 

The first of the distinctly social beatitudes (Mt. 5 7 ), 

Happy are the merciful ! 
For they shall obtain mercy, 



222 JESUS' APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

stresses the kindly, chivalrous attitude toward all men which 
is pre-eminently exemplified in Jesus' personality and life. 
This divine quality is necessary if man is to secure what each 
ardently desires, namely, the assurance of the favour both of 
God and of men. Equally important is personal purity in 
thought, in motive, in speech, and in deed (Mt. 5 s ): 

Happy are the pure in heart I 
For they shall see God. 

Still more kinetic is the third of the social beatitudes (Mt. 5 9 ) : 

Happy are the peacemakers 1 

For they shall be called sons of God. 

As has been already noted (p. 183), the peacemakers are those 
who are intent on bringing harmony and completeness into life. 
Their point of view and aim are those of God himself, and there- 
fore they are rightly called sons of God. 

The last and most paradoxical of Jesus' beatitudes was so 
important that he apparently expressed the underlying thought 
in many different forms. Matthew 5 10 has possibly preserved 
it in its simplest form: 

Happy are they who have been persecuted on account of righteous-* 

ness: 
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Jesus knew from personal experience the exultant joy of 
suffering in behalf of a great cause. Hyperbolic and paradoxical 
though his words seem, he was but voicing an experience which 
at some time comes to every man of courage and with red blood 
in his veins. It is the joy of the patriot who offers his life in 
behalf of his country, the happiness of facing opposition and 
suffering persecution in consequence of some great service per- 
formed, or because of loyalty to a great leader. Christian his- 
tory abounds in illustrations of the truth of this beatitude. 
That life is dreary indeed which knows not the joy of suffering 



SOURCES OF REAL HAPPINESS 223 

in behalf of a worthy though unpopular cause. In the great ma- 
jority of instances persecution is the evidence of achievement 
and of an important service done in behalf of society. 

Paul has preserved (Acts 20 35b ) one of Jesus' beatitudes 
which is in many ways the crown of them all. In its original 
form it probably read: 

Happier is he who gives than he who receives. 

Here again Jesus was but voicing his own tested experience. 
To know the transcendent happiness that comes alone from 
giving joy to others, the giving must be without hope of re- 
ward. As Jesus repeatedly taught, he who gives that he may 
receive cuts himself off from the possibility of attaining the 
highest reward. He who would demonstrate in his own ex- 
perience the truth of this beatitude must be filled with genuine 
love and sympathy for those to whom he gives, for the well- 
being that results from the service is the chief source of his 
happiness. 

Conclusions Regarding Jesus' Philosophy of Living. Je- 
sus calls men to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness 
in the largest and most abundant measure. Only those who 
attain this goal are fitted to be efficient citizens in the new social 
order which he aimed to establish. No wholesome form of 
amusement or recreation fails to receive his hearty approval. 
He summons men to strive earnestly for all that is highest and 
best in human experience and to reject simply that which is 
unsatisfying and destructive of true happiness. Loyal service 
in behalf of the home, the community, and the state is not a 
burden but an opportunity to attain the highest individual 
happiness. Jesus frankly taught that the happiness of the in- 
dividual and of society was the ultimate object of all his efforts. 
He realised that only in this way could man bring perfect joy 
to the heart of the Eternal. Jesus was by no means blind to 
the hideous and painful elements in human life and in the uni- 
verse as he found it; but, like the earlier prophets, he boldly 
and unceasingly declared that the ultimate purpose in the mind 
of God was to develop a universe in which righteousness and 



224 JESUS' APPRECIATION OF RECREATION 

trust and loyalty should prevail and the well-being and happi- 
ness of all be assured. To realise this purpose he laboured and 
taught and died. His message was not one of sadness but of 
gladness. Sorrow and lamentation had no place in the hearts 
of his followers ; rather theirs was the joy of guests at a wedding- 
feast. Whenever his teaching and way of living have been 
truly interpreted, they have brought health and happiness and 
harmony into a diseased, sorrowful, and discordant world. 



XX 

JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

Jesus' Interest in Economic Problems. Jesus did not pro- 
pound an elaborate economic system, and yet at the founda- 
tion of his social teachings lie certain ethical and economic 
principles that are as vital as they are advanced. Any eco- 
nomic system that is to abide must reckon with them. They 
are presented so incidentally and elusively that the reader of 
the gospel narratives often fails to discover them. They are 
set forth in Jesus' answers to searching questions that were 
flung at him, in chance conversations, in direct statements, 
above all, in the matchless parables in which he clothed his 
profoundest teachings. It is at first glance surprising to find 
how large a part of his teachings deal with the value and use of 
wealth. Four explanations of this fact suggest themselves. 
The first is that the acquisition of wealth is the chief ambition 
of the majority of men. None of the men to whom Jesus 
appealed had great fortunes, but practically all of them were in 
quest of that which represented material comfort for themselves 
and for those dependent upon them. They included humble 
farmers, industrious fishermen, enterprising merchants, and 
grafting tax collectors. Even the learned and pious Pharisees 
were exceedingly eager to acquire wealth. 

A second ' reason is that the subject is in itself of the 
greatest importance, not only from the point of view of the 
individual, but also of society. Furthermore, the hot pursuit 
of riches was unquestionably the chief barrier that kept men 
from accepting Jesus' philosophy of living. Finally, Jesus him- 
self, during at least fifteen years of his life, had had wide prac- 
tical experience, both as a manual labourer and perhaps also 
later as an employer of labour. He therefore approached eco- 
nomic questions not as a theorist, but as one who spoke out 

225 



226 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

of a broad experience and observation, and above all from the 
moral point of view. 

In the light of this fact, it is not strange that questions 
of this character were constantly being referred to him. Re- 
peatedly the scribes and Pharisees sought to wring from him a 
definite expression of opinion on the great economic problem 
of his day and race, as to whether or not the faithful Jew should 
pay tribute to Csesar. In every case he refused to be entan- 
gled in technicalities, but laid down instead a broad prin- 
ciple, leaving the individual decision to each man's enlightened 
judgment. On one occasion we are told (Lk. 12 13 - 15 ) that 

A man out of the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother 
to share the inheritance with me/ But he said to him, 'Man, 
who made me a judge or an arbiter over you ? ' Then Jesus said 
to them, 'Take heed and keep yourselves from every kind of 
covetousness, for a man's life consists not in having more posses- 
sions than he needs.' 

As was his custom, Jesus first analysed the underlying mo- 
tives which governed the man's action. In this case Jesus was 
evidently less concerned about the actual division of the in- 
heritance than about the sinister spirit of covetousness that he 
saw revealed in the man's tone and expression. He recognised 
that the chief danger was not that the man might lose his 
share of the inheritance but rather his vision of what was really 
worth striving for. Even the question of securing justice 
seemed unimportant compared with the man's moral and social 
development. With the true instinct of a teacher, Jesus also 
made this specific case the occasion for one of his most sig- 
nificant utterances. 

Jesus' General Attitude toward Wealth. The conclud- 
ing sentence of the passage just quoted states succinctly Jesus' 
attitude toward wealth. It is an excellent illustration of his 
sane judgment on all economic questions. There is a note of 
both humour and pathos in his words: 

For a man's life consists not in having more possessions than he 
needs ! 



JESUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD WEALTH 227 

He taught his disciples to pray: 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

Jesus was evidently no foe of wealth as such. On the con- 
trary, that a certain amount of material possessions is necessary 
for a man is definitely implied by his words. He taught em- 
phatically that industry, of which wealth is the concrete prod- 
uct, is a primary social duty. He gave not the slightest sanc- 
tion to the tendency that developed among many of his later 
followers (especially in the Middle Ages) to refrain from all 
economic effort and to become a mere burden to society. This 
fact is clearly illustrated by the familiar parable of the talents 
(Mt. 25 14 - 30 ). The man with one talent as there portrayed was 
a coward and a shirk, and for that reason his master con- 
demned him as " a wicked and idle servant" and cast him out as 
worthless social refuse (Mt. 25 30 ). His was the paralysing fear 
of mediocrity. In yielding to this craven fear he wronged not 
only himself but society. It is the faithful toil of the men of 
limited talents that for the most part supplies the imperative 
needs of society. 

Jesus also thoroughly believed in the proportionate reward 
of industry and efficiency. The unjust and uneconomic wage 
theory that every man should be paid a standard wage regard- 
less of his personal ability finds no support in his teachings. 
The extra talent was intrusted to the man who had faithfully 
and successfully used his ten. For him there was only the 
highest commendation (Mt. 25 22 ) : 

Well done, good and faithful servant ! 
You have been faithful over a few things; 
I will set you over many things. 
Enter into the joy of your lord. 

It is important to note, however, that the one thus commended 
was working not simply for himself but for society. His re- 
ward also consisted not in receiving the extra talent as his mere 
personal possession but that he might faithfully use it in the 
further service of society. 



228 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Perils of Wealth. What 
many men in Jesus' day, no less than in ours, most required was 
not incitement to industry and encouragement to acquire more 
material possessions. The majority of them — some consciously 
but the majority unconsciously — were striving for "more pos- 
sessions than they needed," and thereby losing sight of that in 
which a man's life consists. What they supremely needed was 
a right philosophy of wealth. That Jesus used hyperbolic 
language in describing the dangers of excessive wealth and its 
unreasonable quest is obvious; but this fact only tended to 
emphasise the importance of the subject and his zeal to fix the 
underlying truth in men's minds. Then, as to-day, the love of 
wealth (i. e., that which represented purely material posses- 
sions) was one of the greatest perils that threatened men's 
liberty and the complete development of their personality. To 
acquire riches men were ready to sell their bodies and souls and 
to repudiate their most sacred social obligations. Much of the 
massed wealth of Jesus' day was acquired by graft or exaction 
or by exploiting the dependent classes. But even if justly 
acquired, there was great danger that it would stifle the social 
impulses of its possessor and cause his soul to shrivel. Luke 
16 contains a story which presents a remarkable analysis of 
this insidious tendency. It is the vivid picture of the rich man 
feasting with his friends, surrounded by all the material com- 
forts that wealth could purchase, living a life strictly legal 
according to the accepted law, but devoted exclusively to the 
selfish gratification of his own desires. At his door lies the 
poor beggar Lazarus, the superlative type of human need and 
woe. Of the two, the condition of the rich man in this life, as 
well as the life beyond, is the more tragic, because his wealth 
has so completely blunted his social consciousness that he is 
not even aware of his fatal sin and loss in neglecting the great 
responsibility and opportunity at his door. 

In the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus we 
have the record of a typical case taken from his social labora- 
tory. The young man's question, "What shall I do to inherit 
eternal life?" indicates that, although he had spiritual aspira- 



THE PERILS OF WEALTH 229 

tions, he was already the victim of inherited wealth, for " eternal 
life" in the language of the day meant a title to individual 
future blessedness. His ideal, therefore, even for the future, 
was still selfishly individualistic. 

Like, the great Athenian teacher of earlier days, Jesus in- 
stantly diagnosed the case and endeavoured to relieve the man 
of his false egoism by means of a series of searching questions. 
There was something in the youth which appealed profoundly 
to Jesus' affection, for the narrative declares that " as he looked 
upon him, he loved him." By training and inclination he was 
already qualified for admission to the inner circle of the dis- 
ciples. Recognising the heavy handicap which wealth had 
placed upon the youth, Jesus proposed to deliver him by resort- 
ing to a heroic measure. He sought with one sweeping stroke 
to free him of all his incumbrances (Mk. 10 21 ) : 

And Jesus said to him, 'One thing you lack; go, sell whatever 
you have, and give to the poor; so shall you have treasure in 
heaven. Then come, follow me/ 

The bold experiment failed, not because it was impracti- 
cable, but because the possession of wealth had so weakened the 
young man's will that he was incapable of responding to the 
great challenge (Mk. 10 22 ): 

But his countenance fell at this saying, and he went away sor- 
rowful, for he was one that had great possessions. 

It was the ever-recurring pathetic story of a man tied hand 
and foot by vested interests. Luxury, ease, position, and a 
certain public esteem, which wealth brought, had all woven 
their meshes about him. His moral fibre, as a result, was so 
weak that he felt unable to walk alone. The possibility of 
sharing in the work which Jesus was doing evidently had a 
great attraction for him; but nevertheless he was ready to risk 
even his title to future blessedness, for which he had been so 
eager, in order to retain his hold on " more possessions than he 
needed." 



230 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

The reaction of this experience on Jesus is equally suggestive 
(Mk. 10 23 - 25 ): 

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How diffi- 
cult it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God V And the 
disciples were amazed at what he said. But Jesus addressed them 
again, saying, 'Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom 
of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye 
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God ! ' 

The too vivid imagination of a modern Jewish woman has 
created a definite gate in the walls of ancient Jerusalem called 
"The Needle's Eye," but it has absolutely no foundation in 
fact. What Jesus had in mind was the ordinary needle employed 
in domestic life. He was again using hyperbole to express the 
intensity of his conviction and to drive home his teaching. His 
disciples fully appreciated the force of the figure (Mk. 10 26 « 27 ): 

And they were exceedingly astonished and said to themselves, 
'Then who can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'With 
man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible/ 

Jesus was the world's greatest social psychologist. No one 
ever analysed the motives in the mind of a man as did he. No 
bne appreciated more clearly than he how great an obstacle 
the possession of riches placed in the way of a man's attaining 
his highest development and the fullest measure of his ability. 
At the same time his scientific impartiality is shown by his 
statement that it was not absolutely impossible for a man to 
surmount this obstacle. It called, however, for divine help. 
Experience amply confirms his conclusion. To discharge one's 
obligations as a social citizen, far more of the love and power 
of God is required in the heart of the rich than of the man with 
moderate means. But fortunately these examples of the power 
of God are not unknown in our modern life. Some of the most 
faithful followers of Jesus to-day are men and women who have 
inherited or amassed large fortunes which they are using de- 
votedly and intelligently for the service of society. 



WRONG USE OF WEALTH 231 

The Wrong Use of Wealth. Nowhere in literature is there 
a more subtle analysis of the psychology of wealth and of the 
fallacies inherent in the current materialistic philosophy than 
in the parable of a certain rich man (Lk. 12 16 - 21 ) : 

And he spoke a parable to them, saying, 'The ground of a cer- 
tain man bore large crops. And he argued with himself, saying, 
"What shall I do, for I have no room to store my crops?" And 
he said, "This will I do: I will pull down my barns and build larger 
ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I 
will say to myself, Now, you have many goods laid up for many 
years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry." But God said 
to him, "Foolish man! this very night thy life is demanded of 
thee. And the things which thou hast prepared — whose then 
shall they be?" So is the man who stores up treasures for him- 
self instead of being rich toward God.' 

Luke connects this parable with Jesus* broad positive state- 
ment found in Matthew 6 19 " 24 : 

Store up no treasures for yourself on earth, 

Where moth and rust consume, 

And where thieves break through and steal; 

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 

Where neither moth nor rust consume, 

And where thieves do not break through or steal. 

For where thy treasure is, 

There shall thine heart be also. 

The lamp of the body is the eye; 

If thine eye then be perfect, 

Thy whole body shall be lighted up. 

But if thine eye be useless, 

Thy whole body shall be darkened. 

If the light in thee is darkness, 

How great is that darkness I 

No man can serve two masters; 
For either he will hate the one and love the other, 
Or else he will hold to one and despise the other. 
You cannot serve God and mammon. 



232 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

If the parable of "a certain rich man" were found outside 
the Bible a modern business man might say of his action: 
"Good policy." It is only his motive ("eat, drink, and be 
merry") that would be condemned. To-day the typical rich 
man, not being a farmer, would not need to pull down his barns 
but would simply add income to principal. The picture is ab- 
solutely true to life and reflects the business standards that have 
largely obtained up to the present. If the supreme aim of the 
individual is to amass riches, these methods are impeccable. 
If dividends are more important than persons, then Jesus' 
teachings are fallacious and hostile to the highest interests of 
society, for he flatly condemned fortune-hunting as a life pur- 
pose. In the mind of the rich man of the parable there is not a 
glimmer of social consciousness. He is the twin brother of the 
rich man in the story of the beggar Lazarus. Viewed through 
the eyes of Jesus, he is not an object of scorn and contempt but 
of profound pity. 

The Reasons Why the Mere Quest of Wealth Is Unsatis- 
fying. Jesus suggests four reasons why the condition of this 
type of man is supremely pathetic. The first is the most ob- 
vious: it is that riches and all the things which they represent 
are inevitably ephemeral. Men may defend their devoted quest 
of wealth by a multiplicity of reasons, but they cannot eliminate 
the stubborn fact that its tenure at the most is exceedingly 
brief and the - pleasures which mere things contribute are 
extremely limited. Measured by the lowest individualistic 
standard, the question may well be raised whether the game is 
worth the candle. The error into which the majority of men 
fall who amass more wealth than they or their families really 
need is that they do not even stop to question the value of the 
game which every one seems to be playing. 

A second reason why the selfish quest of riches, according to 
Jesus, is unsatisfactory is because it dwarfs and destroys hu- 
man personality. He always insisted that a man's most 
precious possession is his personality. Anything which is 
inimical to that is a foe to the man's best interests and happi- 
ness: 



THE MERE QUEST OF WEALTH 233 

If thine eye be useless, the whole body will be darkened. 
If the light in thee is darkness, how great is that darkness ! 

A third reason why amassing wealth should not be made the 
ruling motive in life is because it leads men to forget the value 
of persons and dulls the sense of brotherhood. As modern in- 
dustrial history abundantly demonstrates, it makes possible 
the heartless aggrandisement which still characterises the policy 
of some corporations. It leads certain employers to herd their 
fellow men together and treat them simply as so many beasts 
of burden. It therefore destroys the very foundations of per- 
manent social well-being, for while the few prosper, the many 
suffer. Moreover, the greed for inordinate dividends is un- 
doubtedly one of the chief causes of the high cost of living. 

The fourth and most important reason is because the absorb- 
ing pursuit of wealth as an end in itself is incompatible with 
true love and loyalty to God. Modern psychology teaches 
that two ideas cannot at the same time occupy the centre of 
consciousness. Men cannot have two primary aims in life. 
The individual's value to society depends on whether he, like 
the untrained child, is simply intent upon amassing things for 
himself, or whether the higher social self-control, which is 
loyalty to God and to his fellow men, has become the guiding 
principle in his life. 

The Right Use of Wealth. Jesus not only appreciated 
the value of wealth rightly acquired but also taught the wise 
way in which to use it. Here as ever he laid down not laws but 
principles, leaving each to apply them to his individual case. 
He taught that if a man allows the quest of wealth to become 
his master, he thereby becomes an abject slave, subject to the 
most cruel of tyrants. If he regards wealth simply as a servant 
and uses it to minister to his highest interests and those of 
society, he is not only a wise but an efficient citizen. It was 
this principle which he was clearly seeking to illustrate in the 
often misunderstood parable of the unjust steward, recorded 
in Luke 16 1 " 12 . It is obvious that Jesus was not commending 
the steward's dishonesty in misusing the wealth intrusted to 
him, but rather his success in winning those things which are 



234 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

of higher and more abiding value, such as friendship and a 
business credit, which survived the sweeping catastrophe that 
he saw approaching. In reproducing the words of Jesus, the 
influence of Luke's socialistic point of view probably explains 
his use of the term "mammon of dishonesty" as the equivalent 
of wealth. In any case, Jesus' thought is put in paradoxical 
form (Lk. 16 10 ' 12 ) : 

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; 

And he who is dishonest in what is least is dishonest also in much. 

If, then, you have not proved faithful in the dishonest mammon, 

Who will trust you with the true? 

And if you have not proved faithful in what is another's, 

Who will give you what is your own? 

Underlying all of Jesus' teachings regarding wealth is the old 
Semitic idea of stewardship. In his mind the Golden Rule ap- 
plied not only to men's personal attitude and acts toward 
others, but also to the use of whatever property they may pos- 
sess. From a purely economic point of view this principle of 
the stewardship of wealth is incontrovertible. Man brings 
nothing into the world and can take nothing out. He can ac- 
quire and guard the property that he may hold only with the 
co-operation of others. 

The wise administration of wealth as a social trust in itself 
also contains great potentiality for character development. 
The problem of what Jesus calls " converting wealth into trea- 
sures that can be stored up in heaven" is not always easy, but 
is one of the most important that every man has to solve, 
whether he has much or little. It is also fortunate that our 
complex modern society offers him many aids in solving it. 
If he but face the problem of the right use of wealth frankly 
and fearlessly, he will learn through rich experience the supreme 
truth underlying Jesus' great beatitude: 

Happier is he who gives than he who receives. 

A Living Wage for All. The doctrine that every man who 
is willing to work should be given an opportunity to earn a 



A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL 235 

living for himself and for those dependent upon him is ordi- 
narily regarded as exceedingly modern. By many it is still 
looked upon as a twentieth-century economic heresy. It is, 
however, but a natural, inevitable corollary of Jesus' teaching 
that wealth is simply held by the individual in trust for society. 
No faithful steward can fail to give to those for whom he holds 
wealth in trust at least an opportunity to win by what labour 
they are able to offer a portion sufficient for their support. 
According to Jesus' economic teachings the assurance of a 
living for all is not only the right of the weak but the primary 
responsibility of the strong. 

This principle is at the foundation of one of the short 
stories that he told in order to illustrate an essential character- 
istic of the new social order which he was seeking to establish 
(Mt. 20 1 - 15 ) : 

The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out 
early in the morning to seek labourers to work in his vineyard. 
And when he had made an agreement with the labourers for a 
shilling a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Then about nine 
o'clock he went out and saw others standing about in the market- 
place. To these also he said, 'You too. go into the vineyard, and 
whatever is right I will give you.' So they went. Again about 
twelve and about three o'clock he went out and did the same. 
Then about five o'clock he found others standing about. And 
he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day 
long?' They replied, 'Because no one has hired us.' So he said, 
'You also go into the vineyard.' Now when evening came, the 
owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the labourers and 
pay them their wages. Begin with the last and end with the first 
to go to work.' And when those came who had begun at five 
o'clock, they each received a shilling. And when the first came 
they expected to receive more; but they also each received a 
shilling. And when they had received it they began to grumble 
against their employer, saying, 'Those who came last have worked 
only one hour, and you have put them on the same basis with us 
who bore the burden and scorching heat of the day.' But he said 
in reply to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did 
you not make an agreement with me for one shilling ? Take your 
money and go. It is my will to give to this last comer just as much 



236 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own 
property ? Or are you jealous because I am generous ? ' 

This illustration brings into clear relief the striking con- 
trast between the current economic practice and the principle 
which Jesus was setting forth. The employer, like the Good 
Samaritan, was clearly intended as a type of the truly social 
citizen. He is interested not primarily in getting his work 
done and in squeezing the labour market, but in seeing that all 
his fellow men have employment. In thickly populated Pales- 
tine there was no difficulty in securing labourers in abundance. 
Evidently the householder did not hire men to work one hour 
at a full day's wage because he was in dire need of their ser- 
vices. Rather it was to him a subject of deep concern that 
men who were able and willing to work were standing idle. He 
was one of the first in human history and literature to advo- 
cate the principle that it is for the interest of society to give 
to all its members an opportunity to engage in remunerative 
employment. It is a principle which is now rapidly gaining 
acceptance not only for moral but also for strictly economic 
reasons. Since the days of Aristotle enlightened economists 
have seen that idle hands are a burden upon all. Even in pros- 
perous America to-day an appalling proportion of the popula- 
tion are non-producers and therefore are carried on the shoulders 
of the active workers. Furthermore, if society is to continue 
on a sound economic basis, not only the able but the less com- 
petent and the mentally as well as physically defective must be 
taught and encouraged to support themselves in so far as they 
are able. Furthermore, society cannot afford to allow even the 
morally defective and the most arrant criminals to " stand idle 
all the day long." Also experience has convincingly demon- 
strated that work itself is one of the best cures of their physical, 
mental, and moral ills. To provide wholesome employment for 
these classes is therefore one of the most important problems 
that confronts our modern civilisation. It concerns the cap- 
italist as vitally as it does the philanthropist and the social re- 
former. Already great corporations in America are beginning 
to face this problem squarely and to provide for the intellectual 



A LIVING WAGE FOR ALL 237 

and physical as well as the industrial welfare of all dependent 
upon them. The householder of the parable was simply in 
advance of his age, for he stood on an unassailable economic as 
well as moral basis. If the aim of organised capital or labor is 
simply to allow a few to fatten at the expense of the majority, 
then Jesus' principle is not practical. But if it is to promote the 
happiness and well-being and efficiency of the social group as a 
whole, then the first and most important task of society is to 
provide for all its members, and even for those who, like the 
blind and crippled and insane, are able to do but the equivalent 
of one hour's labour, a respectable means of securing a living. 
Furthermore, during the present transitional stage every citizen 
is under obligation, whether he be an employer or a member of 
a labour union, to do everything in his power to provide such 
employment for all. 

In this remarkable parable Jesus threw light on both sides of 
the vexed labour problem. He did not for a moment encourage 
idleness. The shirk has no place in the kingdom of God as 
he interpreted it. The householder's horror at seeing labourers 
standing idle is clearly that of Jesus himself. Equally sig- 
nificant is the householder's blunt refusal to give additional pay 
to those who had laboured all the day long. Here the funda- 
mental principle of remuneration is involved. Should labour be 
regarded as a commodity subject simply to the law of supply 
and demand ? Or does faithful, honest labour involve a spiritual 
contribution which cannot be paid for in money? In the 
latter case, should remuneration be based solely on the market 
value of the labourer's product or also on his need and the 
spirit with which he works ? In reality the men who had worked 
all the day long had done far more than those who had toiled 
but one hour. Jesus puts their case fairly and strongly: they 
had borne the burden and heat of the day and had contributed 
far more to the common wealth than their fellow workers who 
had toiled but one hour. If labour is simply a commodity and 
the comparison is only with those who had worked simply an 
hour, the householder's position seems unjust and untenable, and 
yet his fundamental principle is irrefutable : the full-time workers 



238 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

had received the stipulated wage, which represented the full 
value of their services. In the final analysis they were claiming 
more remuneration than their labour actually deserved. To 
grant their unreasonable request would be to defraud society, 
for it would be given at the expense of the entire social group. 
They would be stealing a part of the common wealth as truly 
as the capitalist who takes a larger dividend than his contri- 
bution to society merits or his absolute needs require. 

The principle which Jesus sought to stress in this parable 
anticipates a more difficult problem. Both the full-time la- 
bourers and those who had worked but one hour had laboured 
according to their ability and opportunity. To both society, 
unless it revert to savagery and let the unfit starve, must in 
the end give a living. To give it as indicated in the parable in 
the form of remuneration for faithful labour is not only more 
considerate but infinitely more practical than by pauperising 
the less efficient workers by charitable doles or by putting 
them into almshouses, asylums, and jails, and thereby vastly 
increasing the ultimate burden on the shoulders of the strong; 
for the economic principle that decreased production is a social 
loss is incontestable and unescapable. Therefore, Jesus' teach- 
ing suggests the only just and practical basis on which the 
efficient and the physically and mentally defective can work 
together to conserve their common interest. 

Relief of Poverty. It is significant how small a place Jesus 
gave in his teachings to the subject of almsgiving. Obviously 
his command to the rich young man to sell all that he had and 
give to the poor was uttered because Jesus was primarily con- 
cerned in developing the young man's social consciousness and 
efficiency. Also in his discussion of almsgiving (Mt. 6 1 * 4 ), Jesus 
is simply interested in its effect upon the giver. For this rea- 
son he urges that the giving be in secret rather than in public. 
Only once, and that in the latest of the gospels (Jn. 13 29 ), is 
there found even the slightest suggestion that he himself was 
accustomed to give money to the poor. Like the earlier social 
teachers of his race, he sought to relieve and ultimately elimi- 
nate poverty by removing the underlying causes. In the first 



RELIEF OF POVERTY 239 

place, he endeavoured to develop industry and fidelity to one's 
task, and thus to remove one of the chief causes of pauperism. 
More fundamental still, he sought, by putting men into right 
relations to their heavenly Father and to their fellow men and 
by giving them a right estimate of the value of wealth, to free 
them from worry and discontent and jealousy and all the evils 
that destroy physical and mental efficiency. He also aimed to 
check at their fountain-source all forms of exaction and exploi- 
tation and other unsocial economic evils, which are among the 
chief causes of poverty. Furthermore, he sought to inspire in 
all men that spirit of fraternity and helpfulness which makes 
poverty impossible and which insures to each an opportunity to 
do his part in the world's work. He strove to lead every man 
to regard the possession of wealth as a divine stewardship to be 
administered impartially and wisely for the common good. Fi- 
nally, he proposed that society provide an honourable living for 
every man who is ready to contribute all that he can, whether it 
be much or little, to the world's wealth. In any society where 
these principles are accepted, poverty and its twin brother 
crime must in time inevitably disappear. In such a society 
personality, instead of being dwarfed and crushed, will attain 
its noblest and divinest development. Humanity, through 
costly experiments and failures, is just beginning to learn that 
Jesus was not a vague theorist, but the most practical eco- 
nomic teacher that has ever dealt with these fundamental prob- 
lems of society, for he looked beyond mere wealth to abiding 
personal values. 

A Resume of Jesus* Economic Teachings. Jesus' economic 
teachings are highly individualistic; but they rise to a plane 
where the interests of the individual and of society are ab- 
solutely identical. Briefly stated in modern terms, they are: 
(1) The possession of more things than are necessary for a man 
tends to destroy his freedom and his social efficiency. (2) The 
pursuit of wealth as an end in itself is incompatible with loyalty 
to a man's highest ideals and interests as well as to those of 
society. (3) Each man is under obligation to contribute to the 
wealth of society in exact proportion to his ability. (4) No man 



240 JESUS' ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

is entitled to share in the world's wealth who is not willing to 
work, and service to society constitutes his only valid claim to 
the possession of property. (5) Private property is a public trust 
to be administered for the best interests of society. (6) Society 
is under obligation to devise means so that each man who is 
willing to labour will have not only a living, but also an oppor- 
tunity to contribute what he is able to the common wealth. 

(7) The rights of humanity are paramount to those of capital. 

(8) The cure of poverty is the elimination of its ultimate causes, 
moral and intellectual, as well as economic. (9) In the Chris- 
tian social order the dominant principle is not selfish com- 
petition but fraternal co-operation which aims to promote the 
economic welfare of each individual, of each class, and of society 
as a whole. Competition has a place, even under the Golden 
Rule, but its motive is social rather than individualistic, its pur- 
pose is primarily to promote efficiency rather than merely to 
increase private wealth, and its benefits are shared by the entire 
community as well as by the capitalist and labourer. 



XXI 

JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

Jesus* Estimate of the Importance of the Family. Or- 
dinarily Jesus had little to say about institutions. In this re- 
spect he stood in striking contrast to the contemporary leaders 
of his race, who were inclined to interpret religion in terms of 
institutionalism. It is evident that he saw the evils of this 
tendency and reacted strongly against it. As we have noted, 
he even refused to regard the Sabbath as an institution. In 
only one case did he depart from his usual rule. That exception 
was the family. With all the vehemence of deep conviction he 
sought to safeguard the family. There were many reasons why 
he gave this institution a central place in his teaching. In so 
doing he was but following the example of the earlier prophets, 
priests, and sages of his race. Through all the centuries the 
chief glory of Judaism has been its family life. Israel's entire 
social structure was built upon this institution as its chief 
corner-stone. Jesus recognised that, if this was imperfect or 
insecure, no stable social order could be established. 

Jesus' own experience in his home at Nazareth had also re- 
vealed to him the social potentialities of a home in which the 
spirit of fraternity and loyalty prevailed. He paid the highest 
possible tribute to his own home life, for he expanded the idea 
of the family into his comprehensive social ideal of the kingdom 
of God. As a teacher he also appreciated the fact that it is 
only in the home that efficient social citizens can be trained. 
Here most naturally and effectively all that is finest and most 
significant in the inherited experience of the race can be not 
only imparted but also transmuted into character. Without 
the effective co-operation of the family it is impossible thoroughly 
to christianise society. 

241 



242 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

Jesus' Attitude toward Marriage. In view of these facts 
it was exceedingly unfortunate that the mediaeval church 
radically misinterpreted Jesus' conception of marriage, which 
is the foundation of all family life. It assumed that marriage 
was a concession to human weakness. Instead Jesus asserted, 
with the prophetic author of Genesis 2 24 , that marriage is neces- 
sary to meet the innate social needs of man and that its obliga- 
tions are supreme (Mt. 19 4 « 5 ) : 

From the beginning God made mankind male and female. 

For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave 

to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. 

s 

Jesus' encouragement of marriage among his followers, his 
interest in the home, and his love of children all evince his 
complete approval of this institution. 

The one passage in the gospels which has been interpreted as 
indicating disapproval is not a command but an observation 
(Mt. 19 12 ): 

There are eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake 
of the kingdom of heaven. 

This is clearly but an appreciation of the fact that, as in the 
case of the prophet Jeremiah, of the apostle Paul, and of Jesus 
himself, there are tasks and circumstances in which the com- 
plete giving of one's time and thought and energy to a great 
cause are productive of the largest results. It is clear from the 
context that in Jesus' mind such men represented not the 
general rule but signal exceptions. 

Jesus' Attitude toward Divorce. Jesus' hearty approval 
of marriage is shown by the zeal with which he attacked the 
current tendency to make divorce easy. As has already been 
noted, it was one of Israel's malign social inheritances. The 
zeal of earlier prophets and lawgivers had not yet succeeded in 
rooting out this evil. Contemporary Pharisaism was rather 
tolerant toward divorce. If Jesus ever exposed himself to the 
charge of intolerance, it was in his treatment of this sensitive 



JESUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD DIVORCE 243 

yet vital subject. With all his might he set himself against 
anything which threatened the integrity of the family. To the 
teaching of the ancient prophet in Genesis 2 26 he added the 
sweeping statement (Mt. 19 6 ): 

What therefore God hath joined together let not man put 
asunder. 

This command is found in the oldest teaching source and is 
corroborated by the explicit testimony of the early Mark nar- 
rative (Mk. 10 10 - 12 ): 

Whoever shall divorce his wife and marry another commits 
adultery against her. 

And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she com- 
mits adultery. 

This teaching was in reply to a question raised by Jesus' 
Pharisaic opponents. They evidently expected him to speak 
as he did and hoped thereby to rouse the antagonism of many of 
his hearers whose lax practices were condemned by his plain 
words. The Aramaic language, like the Hebrew but unlike 
the Greek, was largely devoid of connective particles. The 
conjunction and was frequently used where a Greek or modern 
writer would use the connective, in order that. Here, as in 
every case, Jesus was evidently dealing with motives. Hence 
his teaching can best be translated into our modern idiom: 

Whoever shall divorce his wife in order to marry another, com- 
mits adultery against her. 

And if she divorces her husband in order to marry another, she 
commits adultery. 

Again we are impressed by the directness and sanity of Jesus' 
teaching. What we have here is not so much a command as 
an unvarnished statement of fact: to secure divorce in order 
to remarry is simply adultery. From the earliest days human 
society has recognised that adultery is the most deadly and 
the most unsocial of crimes, for it destroys not only the in- 



244 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

tegrity and happiness of the two immediately involved, but also 
lays in ruins the home, the foundation of all society. 

Mark has evidently preserved the earliest form of Jesus' 
teaching. Jesus clearly did not deem it necessary to deal with 
the exceptional case where either the husband or wife was ut- 
terly faithless to the marriage vow. There was no necessity 
for this digression, for the Jewish law condemned to death any 
one guilty of adultery. Therefore, in the eyes of the law an 
adulterous husband or wife was already under the death sen- 
tence and the innocent victim was free to remarry. This evi- 
dently was the interpretation adopted by the early church and 
is represented in the parallel passage in Matthew by the phrase 
(apparently later inserted), "except for fornication." Jesus' 
silence on this point, however, suggests that the noble example 
of the great prophet Hosea in trying to redeem his faithless 
wife Gomer (cf. p. 51) appealed to him even more strongly than 
the harsh legalism of his day. His own attitude toward the 
woman taken in adultery leaves no doubt that his profound 
sympathy went out toward the social outcasts who need, above 
all things, human love and compassion. 

Rigorous though Jesus' teaching seems regarding divorce, it 
is confirmed by Paul in I Corinthians 7 10-11 , where the great 
apostle declares that he is speaking directly on his Master's 
authority. The full explanation of Jesus' seemingly extreme 
position is found in his high estimate of the sanctity and 
significance of the marriage relation. Upon its integrity de- 
pends the best welfare both of the individual and of society, for 
it is the only practical basis for a wholesome family life. In 
the great majority of cases the selfish rather than the social 
impulse drives men and women into the divorce courts. Fur- 
thermore, modern experience has grimly demonstrated that 
divorce does not correct but only increases the evils which it 
seeks to eliminate. 

Jesus' teachings on this subject do not stand alone, but are 
an integral part of his practical philosophy of living. These 
principles, when applied to the problems of life, make his aus- 
tere position eminently practical. It is the despondent husband 



JESUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD DIVORCE 245 

or the nerve-racked wife who supremely needs the loyal love and 
sympathetic help of the one who too often selfishly seeks to 
escape these obligations through divorce. All the chivalry of 
Jesus' nature revolted against the craven cowardice and the 
beastly egoism revealed in an ordinary divorce procedure. He 
fought it not merely by direct command but by making love 
the ruling principle in human life and by thus eliminating the 
causes which lead to divorce. When husband and wife are 
working whole-heartedly for each other's happiness and highest 
development, divorce is an impossibility. The limitations and 
needs of the one tend only to inspire the sympathy and devotion 
of the other. A marriage consummated and interpreted in ac- 
cord with Jesus' principles of living is impregnable. But if 
founded simply on the shifting sands of personal passion and 
caprice it is in constant danger of only adding to the hideous 
social wreckage of the divorce courts. 

The Duties of Husbands to Wives. In Jesus' teachings 
the Golden Rule applies as equally within as without the family 
group. The one great difference is that those bound together 
by the marriage bond enjoy greater opportunities for loving 
service. A man's wife is his nearest "neighbour." Paul, in 
his first letter to the Christians at Thessalonica, supplements 
the gospel record of Jesus' teachings about the duty of hus- 
bands to wives (I. Thess. 4 2 - 3 ): 

You know the commands we laid upon you on the authority of 
the Lord Jesus, for it is God's will that you should be pure, that 
you abstain from sexual vice, and that each of you learn to take 
for himself a wife, who shall be his own, in purity and honour, not 
to gratify sexual passion as do the Gentiles, who have no knowl- 
edge of God. 

Here we have another example of the knightly but eminently 
practical ideals which Jesus held up to guide the strong in their 
relations to the weak and to those dependent upon them. It 
is not enough to abstain from sexual immorality. Each Chris- 
tian husband is under obligation to treat his wife in the inti- 
mate marital relations both honourably and considerately. In 



246 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

this profound and much-needed teaching Jesus struck directly 
at one of the most frequent and insidious causes of divorce. 
The Christian husband, like the Master whom he serves, is 
called to protect not only the honour and purity of every woman, 
but pre-eminently to preserve the health and happiness of the 
one divinely intrusted to his knightly keeping. In performing 
this sacred trust, intelligent, devoted love, not passion, should 
be his guide. If he follows this command, the home which 
he founds will prove an enduring corner-stone of the new social 
order which Jesus sought to establish. 

The Duties of Children to Parents. Jesus evidently ac- 
cepted the Old Testament teachings regarding the duties of 
children to parents. The earlier prophets and sages had dealt 
with this subject so fully that there was little to add. In one 
or two significant passages, however, Jesus reveals his convic- 
tions in regard to this important question. If the accepted 
chronology be correct, he himself devoted fully thirty years of 
his brief life to the faithful discharge of his filial obligations. 
Evidently in his thought no time limit was fixed to the respon- 
sibility which sons and daughters owed to their parents. Un- 
like the Pharisees, he placed this obligation above those of cere- 
monial religion. It was not the letter but the spirit of the old 
command which Jesus insisted should be observed. With hot 
indignation he turned upon the Pharisees who encouraged the 
people to bring gifts to the temple when they were really needed 
by those who had the first claim upon them (Mk. 7 6 " 13 ) : 

And he said to them, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypo- 
crites, as it is written: 

This people honoureth me with their lips, 

But their heart is far from me; 

Yet in vain do they worship me, 

Teaching doctrines which are only precepts of men. 

Disregarding the command of God, you hold to man's tradition/ 
And he went on to say to them: 'A fine thing it is for you to set 
aside God's command, that you may keep your own tradition! 
For Moses said, "Honour thy father and thy mother," and, "He 



DUTIES OF CHILDREN 247 

who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die." But you 
say, "If a man says to his father or his mother, 'What I might 
have used to help thee is korban'" (i. e., given to God), you no 
longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother. 
Thus you set aside the word of God by your tradition, which you 
have handed down/ 

Again Jesus' practical common sense is clearly revealed. The 
current conceptions of religion did not blind his eyes to the 
essential principle. Here, as at all times, he interpreted religion 
not in terms of ceremonial acts but of practical social service. 
The same fundamental principle is further illustrated by the 
familiar parable of the two sons (Mt. 21 28 - 31a ): 

What do you think? A man had two sons; and going to the 
first, said, 'Son, go, work to-day in the vineyard/ And he an- 
swered, 'I will not'; but afterward he changed his mind and 
went. And going to the second, he spoke in the same way. And 
he answered, ' I will go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two 
did what his father wished? They say, 'The first/ 

Jesus' Evaluation of the Industrially Dependent Classes 
in the Home. Jesus did not as a rule attack existing conditions. 
He chose rather to commend those which were good and to 
leave those which were evil to die a natural death. This atti- 
tude is well illustrated by his silence regarding the contempo- 
rary institution of slavery. For nearly ten centuries Israel's 
prophets and lawgivers had endeavoured to mitigate the evils 
of this inherited Semitic institution. Apparently among the 
Jews it had largely disappeared. Where it still existed in He- 
brew families the condition of the slave was little different from 
that of the trusted household servant in the modern home. 
In the larger Roman world slavery was far more sinister. The 
fact that Jesus dealt only with the social problems immediately 
at hand still further explains his silence. No student of the 
gospels, however, can fail to see that the principles which he 
set forth struck a death-blow at the institution of slavery. 
His supreme estimate of the importance and possibilities of 



248 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

each individual and the absolute necessity that society recog- 
nise these values undermined the very foundations on which 
this institution rested. Later Christian history has amply 
illustrated the truth of this statement. In so far as nations 
as well as individuals have accepted Jesus' estimate of the 
worth of the individual, they have abolished slavery, until, 
under the influence of Christianity, this institution in its an- 
cient form has practically disappeared from the face of the 
earth. 

Instead of the institution of slavery, two equally insistent 
problems remain in our modern social life: the one is the lot of 
the industrially dependent classes; the other, that of domestic 
servants. Of the two the latter to-day receives less attention, 
but in its far-reaching social influence the domestic problem is 
in many ways the more important. In our complex Western 
civilisation the need for domestic service is increasing rather 
than diminishing. The peace and efficiency of many homes 
are indissolubly bound up with it. The problem is complicated 
by the fact that the stigma of slavery still to a great extent 
rests upon domestic service. Unjust and unreasonable as is 
this fact, it must be frankly faced. Exposed to unusual tempta- 
tions and looked down upon by society, the domestic-servant 
class as a whole presents not only a grave menace to the social 
morality of each Christian community and nation but also an 
insistent social problem. 

Jesus* Solution of the Servant Problem. What does Je- 
sus contribute to the solution of this problem? The full ac- 
ceptance of his fundamental teaching regarding the impor- 
tance and sanctity of each individual, however humble, at once 
transforms the attitude of every Christian and Christian com- 
munity toward those who serve in what is considered a more 
menial capacity. Here is a moral and social therapeutic amply 
fitted to cure the ills and pernicious prejudices inherited from 
the Old World institution of slavery. When employers learn to 
look upon those who serve in their household, not as machines 
nor as a class, but as persons, the servant problem is more than 
half solved. But hitherto in this social field men have been 



SOLUTION OF THE SERVANT PROBLEM 249 

slowest to apply the principles of Jesus. In its ultimate analysis 
and application his teaching is supremely revolutionary. By 
his own example, as well as precept, he declares (Mt. 20 27 « 28 ): 

Whoever would become great among you must be your servant, 
And whoever would be first among you must be servant of all; 
And I am in your midst as one who serves. 

In the truly Christian home, as well as in the Christian com- 
monwealth, honour and preference and social standing should 
depend not upon inheritance nor individual ability nor occupa- 
tion, but simply upon the capacity and willingness to serve. 
Viewed in the light of this principle, nothing in modern society 
is more absurd and unchristian than certain households in which 
the idle rich look with contempt on those who faithfully serve 
them. Measured by the democratic standards of Jesus, they 
who serve are the only aristocrats. Thus Jesus' teachings exalt 
the despised servant to a position of pre-eminence. 

To the solution of the domestic problem Jesus contributed 
a third great principle, which is the ultimate solvent. Nowhere 
is the Golden Rule more needed than in establishing a working 
relation between employers and domestic servants. Employers 
alone cannot solve the servant problem. A theoretical apprecia- 
tion of the importance of personality or of service is not suffi- 
cient. Both employers and those who serve them in the sacred 
circle of the home must be bound together by mutual respect, 
sympathy, and loyalty to each other's interests. When each 
is striving for the best interests and happiness of the other, the 
domestic problem cannot fail to be satisfactorily solved. In- 
stead of suspicion and discontent and discord, the Christian 
virtues of confidence and helpfulness and loyalty will prevail, 
and make the home for all its members a place of joy and hap- 
piness — a fitting training-school for social citizens. Although 
exceedingly rare, there are fortunately a few such Christian 
homes in the world to-day which stand as signal demonstrations 
of the efficiency of Jesus' social principles when applied even to 
the vexatious domestic problem. Their life and their products 



250 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE FAMILY 

are so altogether attractive that they can but multiply, and only 
as they multiply will Jesus' ideal of the new and perfect social 
order be fully realised within the family. 

Jesus' Conception of the Ideal Home. Viewed in the light 
of modern conditions, Jesus' teachings regarding the family 
and the home are intensely practical. He simply sought to 
establish normal human relationships. He demanded here, as 
elsewhere, the frank, whole-hearted recognition of mutual social 
obligations. He sought to conserve the highest interests of 
each and all, and to make clear that these interests are not 
antithetic but identical. Hence, he spoke not so much of 
rights as of obligations. His great teaching, 

It is more blessed to give than to receive, 

applies equally within and without the home. As Kennedy, in 
his epoch-making play, " The Servant in the House," has made 
dramatically clear, the peacemaker, the whole-maker, the har- 
mony-maker reigns supreme in the home, however unfavour- 
able may be the conditions. This vivid play is in fact a superb 
illustration of the application of Jesus' principles to the problems 
of the modern home. 

It is equally clear that Jesus regarded the home, not as the 
ultimate social group, but as the essential training-school for 
the development of social citizens. With his many-sided grasp 
of truth he warned his disciples against the danger of making 
loyalty to the home the one and supreme motive in their lives. 
He evidently had this danger in mind when he taught his fol- 
lowers (Lk. 14 26 ): 

If any one comes to me and hates not his father and mother and 
wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life 
also, he cannot be my disciple. 

It is evident that the word hate is here used hyperbolically, 
for no one taught men to love life more than did Jesus, and no 
one emphasised more strongly than he the importance of loyalty 
in the domestic relations. But in this striking declaration he 



THE IDEAL HOME 251 

taught the equal and even greater importance of loyalty to 
the larger social unit, and of readiness to serve all men when- 
ever and wherever opportunity offered. No one was more 
devoted to his kinsmen than was Jesus himself; but on one 
dramatic occasion, when his mother and brothers with misdi- 
rected zeal came, apparently to draw him away from his perilous 
public ministry, he improved the opportunity publicly to define 
kinship in the larger terms of humanity (Mk. 3 32 - 35 ): 

And the crowd was seated around him. And they said to him, 
'Here are your mother and your brothers outside seeking you/ 
And he said to them in reply, 'Who are my mother and my 
brothers?' And looking around on those who were sitting in a 
circle about him, he said, 'Behold, here are my mother and my 
brothers ! Whoever does the will of God, that one is my brother 
and sister and mother.' 

Thus logically and almost imperceptibly in Jesus' thought 
and teachings his exalted conception of the perfect family 
merges into that of the new social order (the kingdom of God), 
in which all men and races live together as one happy, loyal 
family. 



XXII 
JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

The Political Situation in Jesus' Day. The political con- 
ditions at the beginning of the first Christian century were 
complex, and yet not entirely unlike those which exist in most 
modern countries. Rome, ruled by the Caesars, was the su- 
preme central authority. Although the principle of govern- 
ment which the empire embodied was despotic, it had never- 
theless rendered inestimable services to humanity. Peace and 
ample opportunity for intercommunication and commerce were 
only a few of its great contributions to the welfare of the peo- 
ples over which it held sway. To many of the nations under 
its control Rome had granted a relative autonomy; but it was 
exceedingly jealous of any attempt on the part of the dependent 
states to secure larger freedom. Its rule was a paternal des- 
potism, but woe to the leader or nation that defied its authority I 

As the representative of Rome and of the Jewish people, 
Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, ruled over Galilee 
and Perea. As long as he was loyal to Rome his authority was 
practically undisputed within his territory. Judea, under the 
control of the imperial procurators, came more directly under 
the rule of the Roman Emperor. All political power and re- 
sponsibility had been taken out of the hands of the Jewish 
people. The perennial political question which agitated them 
was whether or not they should and could successfully defy 
the foreign conqueror who had wrested from them their free- 
dom. The majority of them wisely answered this question 
in the negative, and submitted, though resentfully, to Rome. 
An active minority was ever seeking for an opportune moment at 
which to raise the standard of rebellion and to hazard all upon 
the chances of war. In Jesus' day it was more than dangerous, 

252 



POLITICAL SITUATION IN JESUS' DAY 253 

therefore, it was foolhardy to discuss practical politics. It is 
obvious why his foes, eager to bring him under the suspicion 
of Rome and to undermine his authority with the people, were 
constantly seeking to force him to commit himself in regard to 
the great political questions of his day. It is equally easy to 
understand why he, with his large social vision, always avoided 
the traps which were thus set for him. 

Within Judaism itself there were two political bodies. The 
one included the heads of the temple priesthood, who not only 
decided the many questions connected with the administration 
of the temple, but also sent their emissaries throughout the 
Jewish world to collect the annual poll-tax which every faith- 
ful Jew was compelled to pay for the support of this national 
shrine. The other executive body was the Sanhedrin, which 
within the ranks of Judaism administered and interpreted the 
Jewish law, supplementing it by additional enactments as the 
situation demanded. This was the supreme judicial, adminis- 
trative, and legislative body in the Jewish world. Under the 
authority conferred on it by Rome, it even passed judgment 
upon civil and criminal questions. For the most part, however, 
it was simply the interpreter of the Jewish ceremonial and civil 
law. Although a Sadducee was its president, the majority of 
its members were Pharisees. It was, therefore, the official 
mouthpiece of Pharisaism, while the temple was ruled entirely 
by the priestly heads of the Sadducean party. 

Jesus* Point of Approach to Political Questions. In no 
quicker way could he have destroyed his influence as a teacher 
and brought his career to a sudden and disastrous end than by 
arousing the political passions of his people. At the same time 
there are many indications that he was keenly interested in con- 
temporary political conditions. His disciples and the people 
were constantly bringing to him information regarding passing 
events and asking his opinion, which ordinarily he appears to 
have offered freely (Lk. 13 1 - 5 ). At the same time he carefully 
avoided committing himself to a partisan position. He did so, 
not only for practical reasons, but because he was interested 
in motives and underlying principles rather than in political 



254 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

parties and issues. He recognised that the form of government 
is subject to constant change, and that principles alone are 
eternal. It is evident that Jesus also built on the foundation 
laid by the earlier prophets, sages, and lawgivers of his race. 
In this field their teachings had been especially full and com- 
plete. Hence he had relatively little to add, but devoted him- 
self to laying down broad yet far-reaching political principles 
which synthesise and supplement those proclaimed in concrete 
terms by his prophetic and priestly predecessors. 

Jesus' Democracy. Jesus lived in an age when despotism 
was regnant; and yet he was the most thorough-going democrat 
that has appeared in human history. Even Plato's ideal Re- 
public and the so-called Greek democracies were but extended 
oligarchies in which only the men of wealth, power, and ability 
exercised authority and were free and equal. In reality these 
commonwealths were essentially undemocratic, for at their 
foundation was a large dependent class which enjoyed neither 
freedom nor equality. The basis of Jesus' democracy was a 
practical as well as a theoretical recognition of the supreme im- 
portance of each individual, however humble or low in the social 
scale he might stand. It is impossible to think of Plato or 
Aristotle making friends with all classes as did Jesus. It is sig- 
nificant, however, that Jesus had little to say about the rights 
of man, but much about the responsibility of each individual. 
No man, woman, or child was so weak or inefficient or debased 
by sin that he did not strive to appeal to their sense of social 
responsibility. In most cases his appeal met with a worthy 
response. It is only gradually that through his eyes men are 
beginning to see that the essence of democracy is individual 
opportunity and responsibility. Under a despotism the despot 
assumes practically all responsibility as well as authority. In 
a true democracy not only the authority but the responsibility 
of government rests wholly upon the shoulders of the individual 
citizens. In a democracy no citizen, however humble, is exempt 
from this responsibility. As has been truly said, "Democracy 
is the political expression of the Golden Rule." As interpreted 
by Jesus, it means not only the rule of the people, by the peo- 
ple, for the people, but also that each citizen is working as 



JESUS' DEMOCRACY 255 

earnestly for the interests of his fellow citizens as he is for his 
own, and that he is in turn the object of their constant consider- 
ation and care. 

Jesus set forth in clearest terms the basal democratic principle 
that the only valid ground for public honour and preferment is 
individual service in behalf of society. In a variety of parables 
he also taught that the claim to honour is not dependent so 
much upon the magnitude of the service as upon the spirit in 
which it is performed and its relation to the ability of the one 
who performs it. The real aristocrats are those who give their 
best and all, whether it be much or little, to the common- 
wealth. It was to impress this principle upon his disciples 
that Jesus approvingly called their attention to the poor widow 
casting her mite, and yet her whole, into the temple treasury. 
Here is a type of democracy well calculated to startle and ap- 
pal the blatant advocates of equal rights for all — laggard and 
faithful toiler alike. It is the only democracy, however, which 
can endure and permanently supplant the older and firmly in- 
trenched systems of social organisation. This is the type of 
democracy which has been the ideal and inspiration of the leaders 
in the modern republics which have shown the greatest power 
of endurance. It is an ideal which still awaits full realisation in 
human history. At the same time humanity's cumulative ex- 
perience is demonstrating ever more clearly that this is the only 
form of social organisation which will completely conserve the 
welfare and happiness both of the individual and society. 

The Rights and Duties of Rulers. Jesus was fully aware 
of the striking contrast between the prevailing ideals of govern- 
ment and his own. In one illuminating passage he brings this 
contrast into clear relief (Mk. 10 42 - 44 ) : 

You know that they who are regarded as leaders of the Gentiles 
lord it over them, 

And their great men exercise authority over them I 

But it is not so among you: 

Nay, whoever would become great among you must be your ser- 
vant, 

And whoever would be first among you must be servant of all. 

And I am in your midst as one who serves. 



256 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

In the opening lines of this quotation a gentle irony is dis- 
cernible which indicates that Jesus realised how precarious and 
even absurd was the basis of the authority upon which the 
lofty claims and pretensions of such rulers as Augustus, Ti- 
berius, and Herod Antipas rested. To the democratic Teacher 
of Nazareth the whole existing political system seemed in many 
respects ludicrous. Even more absurd than that certain men 
claimed supreme authority was the fact that their fellows al- 
lowed these tyrants to lord it over them. In contrast, Jesus, 
as a true son of Israel, asserted in simplest and yet broadest 
terms the democratic ideals of his race: the supreme duty of 
those who rule is to serve their subjects. Only he who serves 
all most efficiently deserves the place of highest pre-eminence. 
In his characteristic way Jesus also added, in effect (cf. Jn. 
13 13 - 16 ) : "This is not a vague theory. I myself, in this fraternal 
community which is an example of the new social order, am a 
concrete illustration of the revolutionary social principle which 
I proclaim." 

Jesus recognised that nothing was more undemocratic than 
the use of public office for self-aggrandisement. This is mere 
despotism under the guise of democracy. Ofttimes it is more 
pernicious than monarchical despotism, for it rests upon the 
nominal consent of the governed. Ordinarily Jesus used con- 
structive rather than destructive methods. In one memorable 
instance, however (the cleansing of the temple), he employed 
the direct attack in order to uproot certain strongly established 
social evils. In so doing he adopted the methods of the earlier 
prophets. The incident is doubly significant because it is so 
exceptional. It is one of the few instances in which Jesus 
openly challenged and sought to reform the existing social or- 
der. It also furnishes a wholesome corrective to an abnormal 
and one-sided interpretation of his law of non-resistance. The 
social evil that he attacked was especially flagrant and insidi- 
ous. The unprincipled ex-high priest Annas, the father-in-law 
of the high priest Caiaphas, was still the ruling spirit among 
the temple authorities. His record is thoroughly bad. In 
him and in the other members of his family the Romans had 



DUTIES OF RULERS 257 

found tools well adapted to their purpose. They, like the party 
of the Sadducees, of which they were the leaders, were selfish 
opportunists, working simply for their own interests. Con- 
temporary Jewish records indicate that Annas himself had a 
bazaar of doves within the temple precincts from which he de- 
rived large revenues. These were extracted from the pockets 
of the poorer people, who were permitted by the law to offer 
doves in lieu of the more costly sacrifices. Undoubtedly the 
money-changers, who were allowed to set up their tables within 
the outer court of the temple, paid heavy graft to Annas and the 
other members of his family who administered the temple finances. 
From the gospel narratives it is evident that Jesus struck an 
open blow at these iniquitous practices only after long de- 
liberation and with a full understanding of what it meant to 
himself and to his cause. The money-changers and those who 
sold doves were really the agents of the high priests, who were 
the actual offenders. It is clear that Annas and his followers 
recognised that the blow was plainly directed against them, for 
they were the men who immediately challenged Jesus* authority. 
In retaliation for his bold act they began at once to conspire 
how they might encompass his death. In the clear light of the 
gospel narratives it is evident that Jesus finally met his end 
because he thus openly championed the rights of the oppressed 
masses against their rapacious rulers. In so doing he echoed 
the word of Jeremiah, who centuries before, almost at the cost 
of his life, had declared (Jer. 7 11 ) that the temple in his day 
had become a "den of robbers." It was probably the Court 
of the Gentiles, which as its name indicates was opened to Gen- 
tiles as well as Jews, that was being misused and desecrated to 
satisfy the greed of those who were responsible for its care. 
It was also in defense of the larger significance of the temple, 
which, in the words of II Isaiah 56 7 , was divinely intended to 
be "a house of prayer for all the nations," that Jesus staked his 
life. The dramatic incident is recorded in Mark ll 15b - 19 . 27 -33 : 

Then Jesus entered the temple, and began to drive out those 
who sold and those who bought in the temple; and overturned the 



258 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold 
doves; and he would not allow any man to carry a vessel through 
the temple. And he taught and said to them, 'Is it not written, 
"My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? 
But you have made it a den of robbers !" ' And the chief priests 
and scribes heard it, and tried how they could destroy him; for 
they feared him, since all the crowd was astonished at his teach- 
ing. But whenever it was evening, they went outside the city. 

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking 
in the temple, the high priests, the scribes, and the elders came to 
him; and they said to him, 'By what authority are you doing 
these things ? Or who gave you this authority to do these things ? ' 
And Jesus said to them, 'I will ask of you one question; answer 
me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was 
the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me/ 
And they argued among themselves, saying, 'If we say, "From 
heaven"; he will say, "Why then did you not believe him?" 
But should we say, "From men"/ — they feared the people, for all 
believed that John was truly a prophet. So they said, in reply to 
Jesus, 'We do not know/ Then Jesus said to them, 'Neither do I 
tell you by what authority I do these things.' 

Jesus demanded of rulers the same integrity and fidelity as 
he did of private individuals. Nothing could be more contrary 
to the spirit of his teaching than the insidious doctrine of 
Machiavelli (set forth in The Prince) : 

It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know 
how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to neces- 
sity. . . . Those princes who have done great things have held 
good faith of little account, and have known how to circumvent 
the intellect of men by craft, and in the end have overcome those 
who have relied on their word. 

In the Christian ethics the only difference between the ruler 
and the private citizen is that the former presumably has larger 
ability and therefore larger responsibility. The implication 
that a public official should be governed by a different code of 
morals is as pagan as it is insidious and unchristian. 



DUTIES OF CITIZENS 259 

The Duties of Citizens to the State. Jesus did not hesi- 
tate to take issue with the corrupt representatives of an im- 
perfect social organisation; but he was no iconoclast. He taught 
by word as well as by example the duty of supporting existing 
political organisations in so far as they contributed to the well- 
being of society. Even when the representatives of the temple 
hierarchy came to him and his disciples demanding that they 
pay the annual poll-tax, he instructed Peter to resort for the mo- 
ment to his old occupation as a fisherman and with the re- 
sults of his toil to pay the required tax (Mt. 17 24 " 27 ). Even more 
significant is his reply to the captious Pharisees and Herodians 
who were eager to prove him disloyal either to Judaism or to 
Rome (Mk. 12 13 - 17 ): 

Then the high priests sent to Jesus certain of the Pharisees and 
Herodians, to catch him in his talk. And when they came, they 
said, 'Teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not care for 
any one; for you do not regard the person of any man, but teach 
in truth the way of God. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not ? 
Should we pay or should we not pay?' But he knowing their 
hypocrisy, said to them, 'Why do you make trial of me? Bring 
me a denarius, that I may see it.' And they brought it. And he 
said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said 
to him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.* 
And they were filled with wonder at him. 

Nowhere in the gospel is Jesus' practical sanity and alert- 
ness better illustrated. His answer was absolutely incontro- 
vertible, and at the same time it set forth the vital principle 
which he wished to emphasise. Through the intervening ages 
his command to " render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's " 
has often been misinterpreted and misused. Men in their zeal 
to gain a biblical authority for absolutism have failed to note 
that Jesus makes no attempt to define the things which are due 
Csesar. The only right and authority recognised by Jesus are 
those based on service performed. The Roman coin which 
figures in the narrative was not merely a symbol of Rome's 



260 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

authority but also of the valuable services which it had ren- 
dered and was still rendering to the peoples subject to it. For 
such service each citizen was under obligation to render a will- 
ing and proportionate return. In the social order which Jesus 
sought to establish, not the pretensions of those who rule nor 
the slavish adulation of their subjects, but the simple laws of 
honesty and fairness that govern man's relations to his fellow 
man prevail. Here is the basis of loyalty as simple and demo- 
cratic as it is profound and altogether satisfying. 

The Treatment of Criminals. Israel's prophets and law- 
givers were rigorous in their counsel regarding society's treat- 
ment of the defiant criminal. In their eyes the two most 
heinous social crimes were murder and adultery. Of the two 
adultery was punished the more severely and by society as 
a whole. It was the great social crime. At the same time 
prophets like Hosea and the authors of the Deuteronomic codes 
were intent on placing the responsibility for this crime squarely 
on the shoulders of the guilty. They sought to shield the piti- 
able women who are the victims of men's lust and the scape- 
goats upon which the guilt of society rests. They likewise 
proclaimed divine forgiveness for the penitent wrong-doer. 
The author of the story of Cain recognised the glaring contrast 
between the divine and human attitude toward the criminal, 
but it remained for Jesus to synthesise and express the prin- 
ciples of divine forgiveness and redemption in concrete social 
terms. In so doing he solved one of the most difficult problems 
that confronts society. His teachings and work as a whole 
illustrate the principle which he proclaimed, namely, that the 
task of society is not merely to punish but to reclaim the crim- 
inal. Many of his followers, like Zaccheus and Matthew, the 
tax collectors, were witnesses to the practical validity of that 
principle. 

A vivid illustration of Jesus' teaching regarding the treat- 
ment of criminals is preserved in the early narrative found in 
John 8 1 " 11 . Its setting is the temple court during the passover 
festival, when the representatives of the Jewish race were as- 
sembled from all parts of the world. The scribes and Pharisees, 



THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS 2G1 

who figure prominently in the incident, were not only the ac- 
knowledged social and religions leaders of the race, but also the 
protagonists of the prevailing attitude toward the criminal. 
The chief actor was a woman proved guilty of the hideous crime 
of adultery. The scribes and Pharisees dragged her, perhaps 
from the adjoining court room of the Sanhedrin where her guilt 
had been proved and where the death sentence was about to be 
pronounced, and set her before Jesus. They said to him in 
effect: "The earlier laws of our race direct that this adulteress 
be publicly stoned to death by the outraged community. You 
proclaim a new social order. What do you say shall be done 
with such an arrant criminal ?" The biblical narrative tells 
the story, however, far better than it can be retold: 

Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple, and all the 
people came to him, and he sat down, and began to teach them. 
Then the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adul- 
tery. And after they had placed her in the midst of the company, 
they say to him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the 
very act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to 
stone such women. What then do you say ? ' And they said this 
to test him, that they might have something of which they might 
accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and began to write with 
his finger on the ground. And when they kept on asking him, 
he stood up, and said to them, ' Let him who is sinless among you 
fling the first stone at her.' And again he stooped down and went 
on writing with his finger on the ground. Now when they heard 
this, they went out, one by one, beginning with the oldest; and 
Jesus was left alone with the woman. Then he stood up and said 
to her, ' Woman, where are they ? Did no one condemn thee ? ' 
And she said, * No one, Master/ And Jesus said, ' Neither do I 
condemn thee. Go thy way. Henceforth sin no more.' 

Jesus' delay in answering the question of his hostile critics is 
significant. He doubtless discerned their crafty and captious 
purpose, and the danger of being entrapped; but more than that 
he recognised the momentous importance of the issue involved. 
Usually his answers came quickly. In this case, however, he 
took time for careful deliberation. His action in writing with 



262 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

his finger on the ground suggests profound meditation. He 
also wished to give his critics an opportunity for thought. 
But they meantime kept pressing the question. When his de- 
cision had been reached, he rose and confronted them. Again 
the knightly quality, that characterised all that he did, is re- 
vealed. His words also go to the heart of the whole problem 
of society's treatment of the criminal. Before the community 
inflicts the death penalty upon one of its members, let it be sure 
that it is not a party to the crime which it seeks to stamp out. 
As has been rightly said, the self-respecting, punctilious scribes 
and Pharisees who stood before him were probably not them- 
selves guilty of adultery. They were the honoured pillars of 
Jewish society. Some of them were doubtless members of the 
supreme court of their nation. They represented, therefore, 
not merely themselves individually but also organised society — 
the society that makes possible such heinous crimes as the woman 
had committed. Jesus' reply apparently produced precisely the 
effect that he expected and desired. It aroused the latent social 
as well as individual conscience of these pillars of society. At 
the same time it created in their minds a new attitude toward 
the condemned criminal. They had nothing more to say about 
vengeance or punishment. Suddenly to their enlightened vi- 
sions the time-honoured method of dealing with the criminal 
seemed inadequate and unjust. But instead of waiting to see 
what was Jesus' method, they fled the issue. In imagination 
one can see them departing, these representatives of an unjust 
and pernicious system of penology, the oldest and most experi- 
enced leading the way. When they were gone, Jesus turned to 
the cowering, sin-stained woman and illustrated by his attitude 
and words his new method of dealing with the criminal. He 
did not in the slightest palliate or excuse her crime. He did not 
shield her from the infamy and social ostracism which were 
the inevitable consequences of her act. These were her punish- 
ment. Perhaps they were harder for her to bear than quick 
death by stoning. Jesus also opened wide to her the door of 
opportunity and pointed out the way that led to a life of recti- 
tude. More than that, he appealed to her to pursue that way 



THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS 263 

unswervingly. In other words, with all the means at his com- 
mand he sought not to destroy nor merely punish, but to reform 
and reclaim her. 

At last accepting his principle and inspired by his spirit, 
society has begun to perfect the methods and agencies whereby 
those who are socially lost may be reclaimed. The most fruit- 
ful social progress of the future undoubtedly lies along this line, 
for the present generation is rapidly awakening to the fact that 
Jesus' method of reclaiming rather than simply punishing the 
criminal is as sound economically as it is morally. At the same 
time Jesus' social principles, when thoroughly applied, leave no 
place in society for the breeding of criminals. In a truly Chris- 
tian civilisation prevention rather than redemption is the final 
solution of the problem of the criminal. 

Jesus' Teachings Regarding War. During the opening dec- 
ades of the present century men have turned with feverish in- 
terest to the gospels for a final answer as to the right or wrong 
of war. Different individuals and classes have found there the 
most diverse answers. Jesus lived in an age when wars were 
regarded as inevitable. A period of prolonged peace was then 
so exceptional that it provoked wide-spread comment. He him- 
self warned his disciples that they would hear of wars and 
rumours of wars. It is clear that he did not expect war to dis- 
appear suddenly from the face of the earth any more than the 
tares from the grain-fields. To make clear to his followers how 
revolutionary and aggressive was the new social gospel which he 
proclaimed, he declared (Mt. 10 34 ): 

I came not to bring peace but a sword. 

His words are clearly hyperbolic, although at many later 
periods in the history of the Christian church they have proved 
all too literal. The sword which he probably had in mind was 
the inevitable persecution that awaited his followers, if they 
proved loyal to the task intrusted to them. 

One fact stands out clearly: Jesus never for a moment en- 
couraged the use of the sword in his own defense or in the fur- 



264 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

therance of his cause. The most striking illustration of this 
fact is his command to his disciple to sheathe the sword which 
he had drawn in order to defend his Master from the hostile 
mob that had come out to arrest him (Mt. 26 52 ). Throughout 
his public ministry and especially during the last week at Je- 
rusalem he constantly exemplified his principle of non-resent- 
ment and (as far as he himself was concerned) of absolute non- 
resistance. By adhering to this principle, even though it led 
to the cross, he won for his cause a victory the significance and 
magnitude of which the world is at last beginning to appreci- 
ate. Most of Christianity's lasting victories have also been won 
through forgiveness and non-resistance. 

At the same time, when the rights of others were endangered, 
Jesus did not hesitate to use force when all other means had 
failed. Throughout his public career to the closing days he 
tried by friendship and teaching to open the eyes of the Phari- 
saic leaders of his race to the larger social conception of religion; 
but they persistently refused to believe that any good could 
come out of Nazareth. When at last he recognised that his 
earlier methods had failed, he unsparingly arraigned these en- 
slavers of the people (Mt. 23 13 « 23a » 25 » 27 ): 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, 
And you enter not yourselves and you will not let those enter who 
are entering. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, 

But you have left undone the weightier matters of the law: jus- 
tice, mercy, and faithfulness. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites I 

For you cleanse the outside of the cup and plate, 

But inside you are filled with extortion and indulgence. ) 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 

For you are like white-washed sepulchres 

Which outwardly appear beautiful, 

But inwardly are filled with dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 



JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING WAR 265 

Even more significant is Jesus' attack upon the grafting high 
priests (cf. p. 257). Apparently nothing but a sharp blow would 
arouse these smugly intrenched highwaymen, who under the 
protection of the highest and holiest office in their nation were 
reaching their hands into the pockets of the common people 
and shamelessly robbing them. For their sake, as well as for 
that of the helpless masses, Jesus declared open war against 
them. In so doing he stressed an element in his social teaching 
which the extreme pacifist is in danger of overlooking. He 
proclaimed the law of love and no other law, but he saw that 
the high-priestly party were standing in the way of the normal 
operation of this law. He recognised that in this imperfect 
world there are certain types of criminal whose consciences ap- 
parently only compulsion will awaken. If this be true, then 
love itself sometimes demands the use of compulsion. But 
when thus invoked it is but the agent of love. 

Human society has been slow to impose upon nations the 
same ethical principles that are recognised as binding on the 
individual. The moral laws that are accepted as valid in the 
case of the individual are based on thousands and millions of 
moral experiments, and their authority is as well established as 
that of the natural laws in the physical world. But in the field 
of international politics there have up to the present been far 
fewer experiments. As a result the data from which to formu- 
late the principles of international ethics have been far less 
numerous and therefore less convincing. Hence the fallacious 
and pernicious theory has gained wide acceptance that a state, 
in its relation to other nations, is justified in doing many acts 
which would never be palliated if done by a private individual. 
Jesus acknowledged no such distinction. As Paul declares 
(Col. 3 11 ): 

In that new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, circum- 
cised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor freedman; 
but Christ is everything and in all of us. 

Racial and national and class divisions become insignificant 
in the presence of this conception of one great human family. 



266 JESUS' TEACHINGS REGARDING THE STATE 

Communities and nations are but social groups, separated by 
imaginary boundary lines, yet subject to the same moral and 
social laws as the individuals who compose them. The same 
royal law of love applies to Christian nations as to the individual 
citizen. They are under as solemn obligation to conserve the 
highest interests of their fellow nations as their own. A nation, 
in even a larger sense than the individual, is the champion of the 
dependent. Therefore as long as defiantly lawless nations ruth- 
lessly seek to trample on the weak, Christian nations have felt 
compelled, when all others methods failed, to resort to war. 
War, however, has no abiding-place in the new social order 
that Jesus proclaimed, and war between two nations which 
fully accept his social principles will ultimately become impos- 
sible. The law of Jove eliminates deception and distrust and 
false ambition and hatred and all the malign emotions that 
beget war. Instead it establishes justice and brotherliness and 
mutual helpfulness as the invincible forces binding together 
nations as well as individuals. Jesus did not deny the service 
which Rome had accomplished by bringing peace and order to 
the world. He apparently did not advocate the immediate 
disbanding of the armies and police forces of the world. But 
he did proclaim to humanity a better way of securing peace than 
by force. He declared by word and by example that love is 
far more potent than the sword. He taught the power of active 
non-resistance, of a love which is not merely passive but by 
acts of service wins the gratitude and devotion of the would-be 
aggressor. The supreme question, therefore, of the twentieth 
century is whether or not nations will follow the Leader whom 
they nominally acknowledge, and in all their international re- 
lations substitute the law of love for that of force. 



XXIII 
THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

Jesus' Use of the Term Kingdom of God. It is a sug- 
gestive fact that in the early narrative of Mark the term king- 
dom of God is used only once by Jesus during the earlier part 
of his ministry. After his work had been established in Galilee 
the use of the term is increasingly frequent until it becomes 
most common in his closing addresses during the last week at 
Jerusalem. Does this mean that Jesus' conception of the king- 
dom only gradually crystallised? Or is it possible that, as he 
avoided the popular term Messiah, he also avoided using king- 
dom of God during the earlier part of his ministry because it 
had a firmly fixed meaning in the minds of the people which he 
did not fully accept? The two possibilities are not necessa- 
rily exclusive. Furthermore, the term, like the kinetic word 
Messiah, was inflammable. He who used it in public was in 
constant danger of bringing down upon his head the heavy 
hand of Rome, which was acutely suspicious of any other rule 
than its own. The Aramaic word commonly translated king- 
dom meant, literally, rule or dominion. It was derived from the 
same root as the Hebrew word for king. The kingdom of God, 
therefore, meant the reign or rule of God. Inasmuch as in 
Jesus' day the Jews strenuously avoided the use of all direct 
titles of the deity, the term heaven, as in I Maccabees (cf. 
I Mac. 2 21 ,3 50, 60 ), was commonly substituted for God or Jeho- 
vah. Under the influence of this tendency the author of Mat- 
thew's gospel habitually prefers the term kingdom of heaven. 

With the true instincts of a teacher, Jesus knew well the value 
of a dynamic watchword. He fully appreciated the potential- 
ities of the popular phrase kingdom of God. It at once ar- 

267 



268 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

rested the interests and kindled the enthusiasm of every son 
of Abraham. It embodied the loftiest aspirations of his race. 
It was the goal toward which all were eagerly looking. His- 
torically it represented the finest elements in Israel's social 
ideal. As interpreted by many of the earlier prophets, it was 
world-wide in its outlook and reached from the present out 
into the limitless future. It was a term, therefore, well cal- 
culated to lead men out of their selfish individualism and to 
bind them together in united social effort. At the same time 
it was a term which had been very differently defined by Is- 
rael's early teachers. To the minds of the different men and 
women to whom Jesus spoke it conveyed a great variety of 
meanings. There was a certain vagueness and mystery about 
it which were fascinating but at the same time confusing. 
Therefore, at first Jesus apparently used this magic term only 
sparingly. Then, as his marvellous work in Galilee crystallised 
his convictions, he devoted his attention more and more to de- 
fining in the minds of his disciples the rich content of this his- 
toric term, which he employed to represent his own ultimate 
social ideal. 

Popular Jewish Conceptions of the Kingdom of God. In 
Jesus' day the term kingdom of God conveyed almost as many 
different meanings to different minds as does the modern term 
Socialism. All were agreed that it stood for a new social order 
in which the present tyranny and corruption should disappear 
and the principles of justice and righteousness prevail. The 
Zealots and probably a large proportion of the people of Galilee 
expected it to take form in an earthly kingdom, with its capital 
at Jerusalem, which would conquer and absorb the all-embracing 
Roman empire. Many of them were ready and eager to un- 
sheathe the sword against Rome in order speedily to bring about 
this longed-for consummation. The Pharisees and the more 
intelligent leaders of Judaism, who were fully aware of the im- 
possibility of throwing off the Roman yoke by use of force, 
cherished and promulgated the belief that the kingdom of God 
would be miraculously established. The book of Daniel voices 
this expectation most clearly (Dan. 2 44 ) : 



POPULAR CONCEPTIONS 269 

The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never 
be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty be left to another people; 
but it shall break in pieces and destroy all these kingdoms, and it 
shall stand forever. 

Some believed that the Messiah was to be the divine agent 
who would inaugurate this new era. Thus the author of the 
Psalter of Solomon in 17 23 prays: 

Behold, O Lord, and raise up to them their king, in the time 
which thou, O God, knowest, that he may reign over Israel, thy 
servant. . . . He shall destroy the ungodly nations with the word 
of his mouth . . . and he shall gather together a holy people. 

Others believed with the author of the book of Daniel that 
God himself would miraculously interpose and suddenly and 
supernaturally and through Israel's patron angel establish his 
kingdom and the rule of his people over all mankind (Dan. 

713 , 14) . 

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the 
clouds of heaven one like to a son of man, and he came even to 
the aged One, and was brought near before him. And there was 
given him dominion and glory and sovereignty, that all the peo- 
ples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an 
everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his sovereignty 
one which shall not be destroyed. 

Some, like the earlier ethical prophets and sages, undoubtedly 
believed that the inauguration of the kingdom would be natural 
and evolutionary rather than catastrophic and revolutionary, 
and that the ultimate transformation would be social and moral 
rather than supernatural and political. To this group prob- 
ably belonged many of the followers of Hillel and John the 
Baptist. Many, undoubtedly, confused these kaleidoscopic 
hopes. A majority of the people of Galilee, and even Jesus* 
immediate followers, continued to cling to the Pharisaic belief 
in a temporal kingdom to be miraculously established at Jeru- 
salem. This hope was doubtless instilled into the mind of 



270 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

Jesus from his earliest day. Certain modern scholars hold that 
he never rejected it and that he encouraged his disciples to 
hold it. This much-debated question must be decided in the 
light of the testimony of Jesus' own words and acts. 

Jesus' Own Conception of the Rule or Kingdom of God. 
Jesus never employed abstract definitions, but by the use of 
direct statement and parable he earnestly endeavoured to make 
perfectly clear what he meant by the kingdom of God. Luke 
17 20, 21 contains an exceedingly illuminating statement: 

Now on being questioned by the Pharisees when the kingdom 
of God was to come, he answered them and said, 'The kingdom of 
God comes not with observation, nor shall men say, "Behold, 
here it is," or " There!" For behold, the kingdom of God is 
within you.' 

Even though a group of German scholars have stoutly main- 
tained that Jesus was but an ecstatic dreamer who shared the 
popular expectations, it is evident from these words that he 
rejected the current Pharisaic teaching regarding the character 
of the kingdom of God and the way in which it was to be in- 
augurated. In the plainest possible terms he declared that it 
was not something objective, an earthly kingdom with a capital 
at Jerusalem, and with an organisation and administration 
whose representatives and achievements men could view with 
their own eyes, as they could those of the Roman empire. 
Nor was it to be suddenly and miraculously inaugurated. 
Rather the ultimate rule of God which he came to proclaim is 
not something temporal or material but is established in the 
minds and wills of men. It is a personal attitude which de- 
termines each man's way of acting and living and therefore, 
through the individual, the very character and structure of 
society. The words translated "within you" are interpreted 
in keeping with the prevailing use of this phrase in the Greek 
translation of the Old Testament. In classical Greek the phrase 
means "in your midst." In whichever sense it was used by 
Jesus, it conveys the same essential thought that it was then 
existent — not a mere distant hope. In the light of his teaching 



JESUS' OWN CONCEPTION 271 

as a whole, the kingdom of God, as he would define it, is the at- 
titude of trust and love and loyalty toward God and men which 
results from a full acceptance of his principles of thinking and 
living. 

The Two Corner-Stones of Jesus' Conception of the King- 
dom of God. The individual basis of Jesus' conception of the 
kingdom is well illustrated by his familiar teaching found in 
Mark 10 13 - 16 : 

And they were bringing little children to Jesus, that he might 
touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus 
saw it, he was indignant, and said to them, 'Let the little children 
come to me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of 
God. I tell you truly, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of 
God as a little child, shall by no means enter it/ Then he put his 
arms around them and blessed them, as he laid his hands on them. 

Childlike trust is the first essential if a man is to be a loyal 
subject of his divine King. The illustration suggests the close 
connection in Jesus' mind between the conception of God as 
king and as father ; between citizenship and sonship. It strongly 
suggests that the exact meaning of the phrase kingdom of God 
had not yet been fixed in the popular mind, but rather needed 
clear interpretation. Jesus would probably have been content 
to have taught the fatherhood of God and to have held up the 
extended idea of the family as the complete social ideal. As 
it was, he marvellously blended and combined those two ideas. 
In the original Lucan version of the prayer which he taught his 
disciples he brought the two figures into the closest possible 
relation (Lk. II 2 ): 

Father, thy name be hallowed. 
Let thy kingdom come. 

At the same time Jesus appreciated fully the large social 
value of the phrase kingdom of God. It crystallised all the in- 
herited devotion and loyalty of his race; it emphasised not 
merely the individual, but also the collective attitude of self- 



272 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

sacrifice and united effort; it was not limited to the individual 
or to a fraternal community, but reached out to all mankind. 
To develop what is finest in the individual man there must be 
not merely love and loyalty to a divine Father and King, but 
also to the social order, which is the realisation of the divine 
purpose in the world. The term kingdom of God represented 
loyalty to these two objects; it synthesised the religious and 
the social motive. Jesus' use of this pregnant phrase well il- 
lustrates his constant endeavour to gather up his kindred teach- 
ings in one brief, never-to-be-forgotten statement. 

Interpreted in the light of Jesus' teachings as a whole, Mat- 
thew 6 33 contains the profoundest and at the same time the most 
practical social principle ever enunciated. The statement of 
this principle is prefaced by a series of homely yet convincing 
arguments intended to free man from harassing, wasteful anx- 
iety by establishing an intellectual basis for complete trust 
(Mt. 6 28 - 32 ): 

Why then be anxious about what you wear? 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; 

They toil not, neither do they spin. 

Yet I tell you that even Solomon 

In all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

Now if God doth thus clothe the grass of the field, 

Which to-day lives and to-morrow is thrown into the oven, 

Shall he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith ? 

Be not anxious then and say, 

'What are we to eat, or to drink, or how are we to be clothed?' 

(For after all these things the Gentiles seek) 

For your heavenly Father knoweth that you require all these. 

The whole teaching is then summed up by Jesus in one posi- 
tive, comprehensive command (Mt. 6 33 ): 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, 
And all these things shall also be given you. 

Here is a challenge well calculated to test a man's courage 
and philosophy. It calls upon him to abandon his selfish 



THE CORNER-STONES OF THE KINGDOM 273 

quest of mere things. More than that, it asks him to make the 
will of God and the realisation of that righteous will in human 
society the ruling aim in all that he thinks and feels and does. 
After he has begun to seek first the kingdom of God he will 
continue to do much the same things as before. He will prob- 
ably go on working to secure food and clothing for himself and 
for those dependent upon him; but the impelling impulses will 
no longer be selfish. Instead, they will be in the highest sense 
religious and social. Instead of crushing his personality, 
Jesus asks him to express that personality in the largest possible 
way. Henceforth he is a peacemaker, a whole-maker, a tire- 
less worker for harmony and completeness in the home, in civic 
life, in the state, and in the world. Above all, this intensely 
practical command supplies, as the motive power in his daily 
thought and action, not a mercenary reward — although Jesus 
states the profound truth that all the really good things of life 
will surely come to him who undertakes this great adventure — 
but a perfectly natural and spontaneous love for the supreme 
Source of all love and life and a loyal devotion to the highest 
interests of the society of which he is a part. Herein is life, 
indeed, for it means perfect adjustment to a man's divine and 
human environment. 

Entering the Kingdom of God. With true psychological 
insight Jesus recognised that a great transformation was neces- 
sary if the ordinary man was to undertake this great adventure. 
Most of a man's inherited instincts, his firmly fixed habits, and 
the conventional ideas which he shared with his contempora- 
ries stood squarely in his way. To acquire this new attitude, 
that is, to "enter the kingdom of God," required a supreme 
act of will of which the majority of men would prove incapable. 
This fact, as well as the other truth that the privileges of the 
kingdom are open to all, is dramatically taught by the follow- 
ing story (Lk. 14 la > 15 - 24 ): 

And it came to pass that Jesus went into the house of one of 
the rulers of the Pharisees to eat, and one of the guests said to him, 
'Happy is the man who eats bread in the kingdom of God.' But 
he said to him, 'A certain man was giving a great supper, and had 



274 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

invited many people. And he sent forth his servants at supper 
time to say to those who had been invited, "Come; for things are 
now ready." Then they all alike began to make excuses. The 
first said to him, "I have bought a field and must go and see it. 
I pray, excuse me." And another said, "I have bought five pair 
of oxen and I am on my way to try them. I pray, excuse me." 
And another said, "I have married a wife and therefore I cannot 
come." So the servant came and told these things to his master. 
Then the master of the house in anger said to his servant, "Go 
out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame." And 
the servant said, "Sir, what you have commanded has been done; 
yet there is still room." And the master said to the servant, "Go 
out into the roads and the hedges and compel the people to come 
in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of those 
men who were invited shall taste of my supper." ' 

We have already noted Jesus' keen analysis of the insidious 
spell which wealth casts about the individual. It weakens the 
sense of dependence and tends to crystallise the childish desire 
for things. In the light of the story of the rich young man 
and his rejection of Jesus' heroic measure, it is easy to understand 
the facts which may have led Jesus to utter the beatitude 
which Luke alone has preserved (Lk. 6 20b ) : 

Happy are you poor, 

For yours is the kingdom of God. 

Recognising how difficult it is for men to break with their 
habitual methods of thinking and living and to "enter the 
kingdom of God," he endeavoured by a series of striking pic- 
tures to arouse them to an appreciation of the importance of 
taking this decisive step. The Palestinian farmers, as they 
ploughed their fields, which ofttimes extended over the ruins 
of ancient cities, were in constant hope of discovering hidden 
treasure. For them he used one type of illustration. For the 
merchants he used another figure to impress upon them the 
fact that, while loyalty to the kingdom costs, it is well worth 
the cost (Mt. 13 44 - 46 ): 



ENTERING THE KINGDOM 275 

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field which a 
man found and hid. In his joy over it, he goes, sells all he has, 
and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a 
merchant who is seeking fine pearls. Upon finding a pearl of 
great price, he went off and sold all that he had, and bought it. 

Jesus' observation also taught him that not those who re- 
gard themselves as morally righteous but those who have 
plunged deepest into moral degradation are most conscious of 
their spiritual needs and therefore are often the first to re- 
spond to the call to the higher love and loyalty. He illustrated 
this fact by the story of the prayers of the Pharisee and the 
tax collector in the temple and also by the story of the way in 
which each of the two sons responded to their father's call to 
duty (Mt. 21 28 - 32 ) : 

What do you think? A man had two sons; and going to the 
first he said, 'Son, go, work to-day in the vineyard.' And he an- 
swered, 'I will not'; but afterward he changed his mind and went. 
And going to the second, he spoke in the same way. And he 
answered, 'I will go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two 
did what his father wished? They say, 'The first/ Jesus said 
to them, 'I tell you truly, the tax collectors and sinners shall 
enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in 
the way of righteousness, yet you did not believe him. But the 
tax collectors and harlots believed him. And when you saw it, 
you did not even change your minds afterward, that you might 
believe him.' 

The Relation of the Kingdom to Existing Society. Jesus 
was no mere social dreamer. His teachings prove themselves 
to be the outgrowth of close and sympathetic observation and 
deep personal experience. He did not, like many of the con- 
temporary teachers of his race, hold up social ideals that could 
be realised only in some distant, indefinite future. He built 
squarely on society as he found it. The question of how the 
present society could be transformed so as to conform to the 
ideals of the kingdom of God was one in which he was intensely 
interested and which he recognised must be frankly met. His 



276 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

answer is found in certain familiar parables drawn from the 
every-day life of the people. In the first place, he taught with 
superbly practical as well as prophetic insight that although 
its beginning would be very small and insignificant it would 
go on quietly growing until it should become a mighty factor in 
the universe (Mt. 13 31 - 32 ): 

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a 
man took and sowed in his field. Though smaller than all other 
seeds, yet when it grows it is greater than herbs and becomes a 
tree, so that the birds come and lodge in its branches. 

He taught also that men are needed to provide the conditions 
and to plant in human consciousness the germinal principles of 
the kingdom, but that, when this preliminary work has been 
done, these principles will constantly develop and spread, for 
they meet universal human needs and find in the heart of man 
the natural soil in which to take root. Furthermore, he taught 
that the extension as well as the inauguration of the kingdom 
would not be revolutionary but evolutionary: 

First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 

This was one of the many positive ways in which Jesus 
quietly rejected the popular conception of the kingdom as a 
new social order which was to be suddenly, supernaturally, and 
catastrophically inaugurated. The ingathering comes only af- 
ter a long process of natural growth (Mk. 4 2S - 29 ) : 

The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed upon the 
earth, and sleep and rise by night and day, while the seed sprouts 
and springs up — he knows not how. The earth bears crops of 
itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear; 
but when the crop is ripe, he has the sickle put in at once, because 
the harvest has come. 

Jesus also taught that the ideals of the kingdom are all- 
pervasive. They are known by their effects rather than 



RELATION TO EXISTING SOCIETY 277 

through their process of working, for that process is not external 
but in the lives and minds of men. They quietly transform all 
whom they touch until in the end society as a whole is to be 
leavened (Lk. 13 20 ' 21 ): 

The kingdom of God is like leaven, which a woman took and 
hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. 

Nowhere in the gospels is Jesus' world-wide outlook and his 
conviction that the social principles which he proclaimed were 
to transform all society more clearly expressed than in this 
homely little parable. 

In the light of Jesus' intimate knowledge of the human 
heart, he was fully aware that two difficult problems would 
assail his followers. The one was that which troubled the soul 
of the heroic author of the book of Job: if God is good, why 
does he allow evil to flourish? The other, from a practical 
point of view, is even more perplexing : how is the loyal citizen 
of the kingdom of God to live the perfect life in the midst of 
an imperfect world? 

In the parable of the good seed and the tares Jesus offers il- 
luminating suggestions regarding the solutions of both these 
problems. He does not attempt to explain why God has per- 
mitted evil to flourish in the world. It is simply a part of the 
nature of things, and he quietly assumes that what is is best. 
Also he teaches that evil is but an impermanent element in the 
universe : the good alone will permanently survive. Meantime 
it is possible for the ideals of the kingdom to germinate and 
spread, even though they come into constant contact and 
competition with evil forces. Even so, the individual man 
can be loyal to God and to the ideals of the kingdom in a 
society which contains many who do not recognise this higher 
loyalty. Jesus does not for a moment deny the fact that the 
presence of these disloyal elements makes it far more difficult 
for his followers to "seek first the kingdom of God." He him- 
self knew this by painful experience. So also his early apostles, 
who faced persecution and death; so also every man to-day 



278 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OP GOD 

who "seeks first the kingdom of God" in the midst of a society 
that is only partially Christianised. To the fishermen in his 
audience he taught these great truths by the use of the parable 
of the net which gathered in all kinds of fish; to the farmers he 
told the story of the good seed and the tares (Mt. 13 24 - 30 ) : 

Another parable he set before them, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 
but while men were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares also 
among the wheat and went away. Now when the blade sprouted 
and brought forth fruit, the tares appeared also, and the servant 
of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Sir, did you 
not sow good seed in your field? How then does it contain 
tares?' And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this/ The 
servants said to him, 'Will you have us go then and gather them ?' 
But he said, 'No, lest while you are gathering the tares, you 
might root up the wheat with them. Let both of them grow to- 
gether until the harvest; then at the harvest time I will say to the 
reapers, "Gather the tares first, and bind them in bundles for 
burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." - 

The Realisation of Jesus' Ideal of the Kingdom in Society. 
Jesus taught in unmistakable terms that the realisation of his 
social ideal was not left to some distant future, although he 
himself was keenly alive to the fact that its complete realisa- 
tion lay far beyond the immediate horizon. As we have already 
noted, his work in Galilee and Jerusalem indicates clearly that 
he ardently desired during his lifetime to present to his race 
a concrete illustration of the transformation which his social 
teachings, when accepted by the members of a typical commu- 
nity, would effect. This purpose explains his tireless zeal; it 
throws new light on the call and training of his disciples and 
his successful endeavours to build up a fraternal community 
in the greater Capernaum. His was not an esoteric social doc- 
trine. He sought to realise his ideal of the kingdom, not in the 
lives of a few gifted followers apart from the great currents of 
national life, but through ordinary men and women and chil- 
dren, citizens of a typical Palestinian city. In large measure 



REALISATION OF JESUS' IDEAL 279 

Jesus was able, in the face of supreme odds and during an exceed- 
ingly brief period, to effect this practical demonstration of the 
application of his social principles. The leaven that was 
planted in the teeming community which lay on the northern 
shore of the Sea of Galilee had quietly but rapidly spread until it 
had begun to transform the entire mass. Jesus had hoped that 
this transformation would be even more rapid and complete, 
but the reality was in itself as marvellous as it was significant. 
Within less than a decade after his death the tiny mustard- 
seed that had been sown in the rocky soil of Palestine had be- 
gun to grow into a great tree with many branches, under which 
Gentiles as well as Jews, ignorant pagans as well as learned 
Greeks, found rest and shelter. 

Jesus imposed upon the children of the kingdom (those who 
have accepted his attitude of complete loyalty toward God and 
their fellow men) no external organisation except what their 
simple daily needs required; no bonds, except the supreme ob- 
ligation to be perfect even as their heavenly Father is perfect, 
to do to others as they would have them do to them, and to 
seek first and always the kingdom of God. He taught them to 
pray, 

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, 

and thus held up ever before them as the goal of all their efforts 
a perfect social order. But while he taught them that the com- 
plete realisation of the ideals of the kingdom lay in the future, 
its beginning and the progressive realisation of these ideals are 
here and now. The imperfections of existing society are only 
the tares which divine wisdom allows to survive, even though 
they are but the remnants of an older world order which is 
doomed to destruction. Meantime, the principles of the king- 
dom are at work in the hearts of men, transforming their mo- 
tives and therefore their acts and characters, and thereby like 
leaven permeating all society. Men who see merely through 
the physical eye cannot say of the kingdom, " ( Behold, here it 
is ! ' or ' There ! ' " But he who can look beyond externals to 



280 THE RULE OR KINGDOM OF GOD 

the real can see not only that the kingdom of God is already 
established in the hearts of countless thousands, but that its 
leaven is even now slowly but certainly transforming the whole 
mass of society. 



PART IV 
THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS 



XXIV 

THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN 
COMMUNITIES 

The Effect of Jesus* Death upon His Followers. The 

New Testament contains a threefold record of the social teach- 
ings of Jesus. The fullest but the latest to be committed to 
writing is that found in the four gospels. The oldest is the re- 
flection of Jesus' work and teachings in Paul's epistles. In 
many ways the most significant record is the life of the primi- 
tive Christian communities that were the direct outgrowth of 
the loyal brotherhood which Jesus had built up at Capernaum. 
The supreme test of his social teachings came immediately 
after his death. Up to the closing days of his ministry even his 
most intimate disciples were still obsessed with the current ma- 
terial Jewish idea of the kingdom of God, as is shown by the 
request of James and John (Mk. IO 35 - 40 ). So persistent was 
this popular hope that after Jesus' death it reappeared in the 
expectation, widely held by his followers, that he would speed- 
ily come again to realise in a supernatural and objective way the 
popular hopes of his race. 

Jesus' crucifixion at the instigation of unprincipled foes at 
first smote his disciples with dismay and fear. As the oldest 
records indicate, panic-stricken they fled back to their homes 
in Galilee. A wave of despair seems for a moment to have sub- 
merged them. Then amidst the old environment and associa- 
tions there came, first to Peter and then to all of them, those 
unique and transcendent experiences through which they be- 
came vividly conscious of Jesus' immediate presence as a liv- 
ing leader. A mighty purpose took the place of despair. Not 
singly, but as a united brotherhood, they returned to Jerusalem 

283 



284 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES 

to live in the capital and centre of Judaism, the communal life 
which he had taught them. 

The Reasons Why Jesus' Followers Returned to Jeru- 
salem after His Death. The return of Jesus' disciples to 
Jerusalem within a few days after his crucifixion was a bold, 
seemingly impracticable venture. The Jewish authorities who 
had put their Master to death were still in control. Jewish 
fanaticism was strongest in Jerusalem. The Roman officials 
viewed with suspicion any unusual religious movements. 
Above all, the homes of the majority and the occupations 
whereby they were able to support themselves were found in 
Galilee rather than Judea. What were the motives which in- 
spired them ? The first was undoubtedly the belief that Jesus 
would speedily reappear to establish his rule in Jerusalem. 
They, as his immediate followers, were eager to be present 
there in order to participate in it. This motive, however, was 
not alone sufficient to hold them in Jerusalem in the face of 
disillusionment and persecution. The deeper reason was 
clearly because Jesus himself in the closing days of his min- 
istry had led them up to Jerusalem and established there, in 
the very heart of Judaism, the centre of their communal life. 
The only motive that really explains their unusual action is 
their loyalty to the mission that he had left them. It was 
because they felt that they were the leaven which must leaven 
the whole mass of Judaism and that they could do their task 
better in the capital and temple city as the centre than 
in Galilee or Samaria, where they would fail to touch the 
streams of Jewish pilgrims which radiated from Jerusalem to 
the ends of the civilised world. Events quickly demonstrated 
the truth of their conviction. 

The Personnel and Organisation of the Jerusalem Com- 
munity. The narrative in the opening chapter of Acts states 
that at first a hundred and twenty of Jesus' followers rallied at 
Jerusalem. The nucleus of this brotherhood were the eleven 
disciples who had been associated most closely and constantly 
with him. To their number were now added the immediate 
kinsmen of Jesus, who were among the first of the new con- 



PERSONNEL AND ORGANISATION 285 

verts to be drawn into the community by the enthralling vision 
of his abiding presence. The Jerusalem community evidently 
included men, women, and children. Its constituent elements 
were those that could be found in any typical community of 
Palestine. Practically all classes were represented: peasants, 
tax collectors, fishermen, students, members of the royal house- 
hold of Herod, rich and poor. The majority apparently be- 
longed to the middle working classes. The one respect in 
which it differed from other contemporary communities was in 
its organisation and life. While their Master had been among 
them he had been the common link which had bound them all 
together. Now they drew more closely to each other and found 
in their communal life the inspiration which they needed. 

At first their organisation was very simple. As in the Jewish 
synagogue in which all of them had been trained, questions of 
policy were apparently referred to the elders. These were 
simply the older men in the community who represented the 
various families. In deciding important questions the words 
of Jesus' immediate disciples naturally carried great weight, 
but the evidence is conclusive that far down into the first 
Christian century the organisation and spirit of these Christian 
communities was absolutely democratic. As has been truly 
said: 

History furnishes no more perfect example of an absolute 
democracy. 

Every important question was referred to the community 
as a whole and each member had a voice in deciding it. The 
organisation of the Christian communities developed simply as 
their needs required. When it was found that the families of 
certain of the Jewish converts to Christianity, who had returned 
from the lands of the dispersion and were therefore not in as 
close touch with their countrymen as were those who had al- 
ways resided in Palestine, were being neglected in the distri- 
bution of food, seven of their number were selected by common 
consent to see that the needs of this neglected class were fully 
supplied. While the duties of the seven were similar to those 



2S6 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES 

of the later deacons they were by no means identical. De- 
scribed in modern terms the seven were a special committee 
intrusted with a definite task. The individual ability, not the 
office, quickly won for them a prominence which overshadowed 
that of Jesus' intimate disciples. The author of the book of 
Acts is inclined to exalt the authority of the twelve apostles, 
but the indications in the oldest records are clear that their 
functions were simply advisory and that all important deci- 
sions were made by the community as a whole. 

By the middle of the first Christian century each community 
appears to have had its episcopus, or bishop, whose duties were 
closely similar to that of the modern pastor. One of his chief 
functions was to act as the agent of the community in supply- 
ing the needs of the poor and sick and dependent. Associated 
with him as assistants in this work were the deacons, or min- 
isters. The corresponding service for the women was at first 
intrusted to certain widows, who were selected for the task, 
and later to the deaconesses. In keeping with the spirit and 
teachings of their Master, those who exercised authority and 
enjoyed a special honour were thus exalted simply because of 
their ability to serve and to be the ministers of all. Until the 
close of the first Christian century the organisation of these 
Christian communities was in every sense simple, democratic, 
and fraternal. 

The Spirit of Brotherhood in the Early Christian Com- 
munities. The strength of these early Christian communities 
was their spirit of brotherhood. The love which Jesus had in- 
spired within them broke down all social barriers, even that of 
slave and master. They felt themselves to be simply a large 
family and regarded each other as brothers not only in name 
but in reality. The author of Acts 2 declares: 

The believers all kept together. . . . Day after day they re- 
sorted with one accord to the temple and broke bread together 
in their own homes. 

The morning and midday meals with most Orientals were 
incidental and eaten wherever and whenever appetite and op- 



THE SPIRIT OF BROTHERHOOD 287 

portunity came to them. The evening repast was the one im- 
portant meal of the day. Far down into the second century 
the members of these primitive Christian fraternities continued 
to eat it together. It was the agape or love-feast, which ever 
kept fresh in their minds the memory of the meals which Jesus 
ate together with his disciples and above all the last memo- 
rable supper at Jerusalem. 

There are many indications in the writings of the early 
Church Fathers that this evening meal was characterised by its 
good fellowship. Mirth and jollity were not lacking. In some 
quarters it later fell into disrepute through the tendency of cer- 
tain of the brothers to indulge in excesses and to misuse its 
privileges. It is evident that in the primitive church this com- 
mon fraternal life was one of the powerful uniting bonds that 
held them together and made their influence irresistible in a 
world in which there were countless thousands yearning for the 
joys of brotherhood and for social alignment with their fellows. 
Down into the second century even heathen critics continued 
to exclaim: "How they love one another!" and to comment on 
the fact that they not only called but treated each other as 
brothers. 

Paul and the early Christian writers frankly tell us that 
there were many who failed to realise this brotherly ideal, but 
the dominant spirit in each community was that of their Master, 
who declared: 

You are all brothers. Let him who would be first among you 
be servant of all. 

Each community was a fraternity, supremely rich in good 
will and fellowship, exemplifying the modern definition of 
brotherliness : "love on a footing of equality/' 

The Economic Basis of the Early Christian Communities. 
The author of Acts 2 44 ' 45 declared: 

The Jerusalem Christians shared all they had with one another; 
they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the pro- 
ceeds among all as any one might be in need. 



288 THE EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES 

From this and similar passages it has sometimes been inferred 
that they lived together on a communistic basis. It seems 
clear from the gospel narratives that during Jesus' lifetime he 
and his immediate disciples shared a common purse; but the 
earliest evidence in the book of Acts indicates conclusively that 
the economic life of the Jerusalem community was not regulated 
by an arbitrary, communistic principle but by the more power- 
ful forces of brotherly love and of loyalty to the fraternal com- 
munity which Jesus had inspired in the hearts of his followers. 
The economic needs of the Jerusalem community were great 
and insistent, for most of its members were peasants or fisher- 
men or Jews from distant lands who were unable to derive an 
income through their ordinary occupation. The situation, 
therefore, called for supreme sacrifice on the part of those who 
had possessions. The majority met the test. Thus we are 
told that Barnabas, who was a Jewish native of Cyprus, " sold 
a farm belonging to him and brought the money and placed it 
at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4 36 » 37 ). It is definitely stated in 
Acts 4 34 - 35 : 

There was not a needy person among them, for those who owned 
houses or lands sold them and brought the proceeds of the things 
which were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. It was then 
distributed to every one as each individual had need. 

In the familiar story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira their 
sin is not the breach of any written or unwritten communistic 
law, but their endeavour to gain credit for generosity which was 
not genuine. Peter's words to Ananias are convincing evidence 
that no such law was in existence (Acts 5 4a ) : 

While the land remained unsold was it not your own? And 
even after it was sold was it not at your disposal ? 

The records of the rich and powerful Christian community at 
Antioch confirm this conclusion. We are told in Acts ll 29 - 30 
that at the time of the great famine in Palestine (46-48 a.d.) : 



THE ECONOMIC BASIS 289 

The disciples each as he was able decided to send relief to 
the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their con- 
tributions to the presbyters by Barnabas and Saul. 

It was not until the second and third Christian centuries, as 
the concomitant of monasticism, that communistic ideas be- 
gan to creep into the church. Thus, the Epistle of Barnabas 
(which may be dated about 100 a.d.) commands: 

You shall share all things in common with your neighbour; 
you shall not call things your own; for if you are partakers in com- 
mon of things that are incorruptible, how much more of those 
things that are corruptible? 

Later it was asserted by the Church Fathers that 

possession in common, that is, equal ownership, is a natural and 
original order of things. What the poor ask is not yours, but 
their own. 

These communistic teachings, however, were far removed 
from the still more fundamental economic principle laid down 
by Jesus. Instead of advocating communism, he placed upon 
each of his followers the responsibility of administering what- 
ever property he might possess as a faithful steward for the 
best interests of the social group, as well as for his own highest 
profit. 



s 



XXV 
PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

Paul's Interest in Social Questions. Paul was by nature a 
mystic. Throughout his entire career as a Christian he firmly 
believed in the second coming of Jesus. At first glance most of 
his epistles give the impression that he was more interested in 
the teachings about Jesus than in what the Master actually 
taught. Paul's own social teachings are so wrapped up with 
his theology that many modern readers fail to find them; and 
yet Paul, the mystic, the visionary, the theologian, was su- 
premely interested in social questions. This interest was pri- 
marily due to the fact that there was an intensely practical side 
to his nature. His power as an apostle was largely the result 
of this marvellous combination of the mystic and practical man 
of affairs. Like the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, his head 
was in the clouds and he caught clear glimpses of the face of the 
Eternal; but his feet stood squarely on earth and he ever sym- 
pathetically walked the path of life in closest touch with his 
toiling, suffering fellow men. From his earliest years Paul had 
also been a constant student of the Jewish law and the proph- 
ets, which were saturated with social idealism. While Paul, 
the Christian, rejected the ceremonial demands of that ancient 
law, he never ceased to emphasise its ethical and social teach- 
ings. Moreover, his work as a missionary and pastor constantly 
brought him into most intimate touch with the varied social 
problems of the Christian communities. His zeal to develop 
their highest efficiency ever kept his social interest at white 
heat. 

It is also evident that it was the social element in Jesus' 
teachings that made the profoundest impression upon Paul. 

290 



PAUL'S INTEREST IN SOCIAL QUESTIONS 291 

Through conversations with Peter and other disciples who had 
been closely associated with Jesus, Paul had ample opportunity 
to become intimately acquainted with those teachings which 
bulked so large in Jesus' message to his race. Paul rarely 
quoted literally. He preferred, even in his use of the Old Testa- 
ment, to reproduce the fundamental thought in his own lan- 
guage rather than in that of the original writer. And yet in 
the case of the majority of Paul's social teachings it is possible 
to trace back to the gospel records the underlying principles 
which inspired this great apostle to the Gentiles. In a few 
cases it seems clear that Paul, the oldest of the New Testament 
writers, has also preserved certain of the priceless social teach- 
ings of Jesus which failed to find a place in the gospel records. 
Paul's social philosophy and teachings therefore possess for us 
a unique interest. It is not so much Paul the theologian as 
Paul the social teacher and organiser that is commanding the 
attention and enthusiastic admiration of the present genera- 
tion. This, after all, is the real Paul. In hjs formal epistles 
Paul the former Pharisee always felt obliged to justify his new 
theological positions. His long apologies reveal the proselyte; 
but after these theological preambles he rarely fails to introduce 
a rich body of social teachings. This is the heart of each epis- 
tle. Here Paul lays bare his own heart all aflame with social 
passion. 

Marriage and Divorce. Paul's teachings regarding mar- 
riage and divorce are incidental and deal with the peculiar 
conditions existing in the Corinthian church. They are in fact 
direct answers to certain questions propounded to him by 
members of that church. His answers are clearly influenced 
by two important factors : the first was the immoral atmosphere 
of that ancient commercial city into which had poured the vices 
of both the East and the West. If anywhere in the entire Ro- 
man world conditions were unfavourable for happy married 
life it was in corrupt Corinth. The second and still more im- 
portant factor was Paul's belief that great social and political 
transformations were imminent. He plainly states this belief 
in I Corinthians 7 28c - 29a - 31b - 32a : 



292 PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

Those who marry will have physical discomfort, and I would 
spare you that. I mean, brothers, the time has been shortened, 
... for this present world order is passing away. I want you to 
be free from all anxiety. 

These factors undoubtedly largely explain the ascetic note in 
Paul's teaching. They suggest the chief reasons why he gave 
the following advice regarding mature unmarried women and 
widows (I Cor. 7 8 - 9a ): 

I would say this: It is an excellent thing if, like me, they re- 
main as they are; but if they cannot restrain themselves, let them 
marry. 

And at the same time he plainly declared (I Cor. 7 28a ) : 

If you are actually married there is no sin in that; and if a 
maiden marries there is no sin in that. 

In I Corinthians 7 32 - 35 Paul states the third reason why he did 
not advise mature men and women, like himself, to assume 
matrimonial obligations: 

I wish you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is 
anxious about the Lord's affairs, how he may please the Lord, 
but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how he may 
please his wife; thus he is torn with anxieties. The young un- 
married woman and maiden also is anxious about the Lord's 
affairs that she may be consecrated body and spirit. But once 
married, she is anxious about worldly affairs, how she may please 
her husband. I am saying this in your own interest, not that I 
want to put a restraint upon your freedom, but only for the sake 
of decorum and undivided devotion to the Lord. 

Paul makes it perfectly clear that his teachings regarding 
marriage were based simply on his own convictions and the 
peculiar needs and condition of the Corinthian Christians. To 
cite this advice as an authority in support of asceticism is as 
unjust to Paul as it is to the fundamental principles of interpre- 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 293 

tation. On the subject of divorce, however, he spoke unhesi- 
tatingly and on the avowed authority of the Master whom he 
served (I Cor. 7 10 " 16 ) : 

For married people, my instructions are — yet not mine but the 
Lord's — a wife is not to separate from her husband, or if she has 
separated, let her remain single or be reconciled to her husband. 
Also a husband must not put away his wife. To other people I 
say — I, not the Lord — if any brother has a wife who is not a be- 
liever and she consents to live with him, let him not put her away. 
And if any woman has a husband who is not a believer and he 
consents to live with her, let her not put her husband away. For 
the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and a 
woman who is not a believer is consecrated through union with 
the Christian brother; otherwise your children would be unholy 
instead of being holy, as they now are. If, however, the unbe- 
liever is determined to separate, let him do so. In such cases the 
Christian brother or sister is not bound as a slave. God has 
called you to a life of peace. O wife, how do you know that you 
may not save your husband ? O husband, how do you know that 
you may not save your wife? 

As has already been noted (p. 244), this passage is a strong 
confirmation of the originality of the Marcan version of Jesus' 
teaching regarding divorce, which gives no countenance to di- 
vorce with the aim of remarrying . It also implies that Jesus, 
like Paul, advised separation, when the action of either the 
husband or wife made married life together impossible. At 
the same time Paul declares his faith in the power of Christian 
love to break down all barriers and to transform the most 
impossible characters. It is the same principle which the 
prophet Hosea set forth not only by word but also in his own 
tragic domestic life. It is this love and zeal to help the other, 
who needs this help in proportion as he or she has departed 
from the path of rectitude, that destroys the hatred and re- 
sentment in the mind of the one wronged and often conquers 
when law and public opinion are powerless. Paul also em- 
phasises the fact that divorce involves not only the interest of 
husband and wife but also that of their children, and that its 



294 PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

products are offsprings maimed morally and spiritually. The 
supreme principle which Paul applied to this vexed question 
is that of the highest peace or well-being for all concerned. If 
separation is necessary to conserve this well-being, he advises 
it; but never divorce and remarriage. 

The Mutual Responsibilities of Husbands and Wives. 
Paul, though himself unmarried, has more to say about the 
duties of husbands and wives than any other biblical writer. 
The reason for this is because, like Jesus, he was keenly alive 
to the fundamental importance of the family. Moreover, as 
the devoted adviser of the communities under his fostering care, 
he was constantly impressed with the fact that the welfare of 
the individual and of society is indissolubly bound up with that 
of the home. He is to-day popularly regarded as the crabbed 
foe of woman's rights. As a matter of fact Paul, next to Jesus, 
did more to give woman her rightful position in the marriage 
relation than any other leader in human thought. In defining 
the duties and rights of husbands and wives in the intimate 
marriage relation, he placed them both on an absolute equality 
(I Cor. 7 3 - 5 ). 

Moreover, it is Paul who alone has preserved and reiterated 
Jesus' injunction that husbands, in their intimate marriage re- 
lation, be governed not by their passions but by tender con- 
sideration for the feelings and welfare of their wives. Paul's 
command in Colossians 3 18 , 

Wives, be subject to your husbands, for this is your Christian 
duty, 

is often quoted; but it is incomplete if torn from its context. 
In the same breath he lays a still weightier responsibility upon 
the masculine shoulders: 

Husbands, love your wives; do not be harsh to them. 

In the parallel passage in Ephesians 5 21-27 he commands both 
husbands and wives to " be subject to one another out of rever- 
ence for Christ." Then* relationship he likens to that between 



RESPONSIBILITIES OF HUSBANDS 295 

Christ and his church. That the life of the home may be har- 
monious and effective, there must be leadership. That leader- 
ship, he declares, naturally devolves upon the husband. In his 
teaching that, as the church is subject to Christ, so wives are 
to their husbands, Paul spoke as an Oriental. It is clear that 
he also had prominently in mind the Greek women of corrupt 
Corinth, where feminine boldness and immorality too often 
went hand in hand, rather than the prototype of the educated 
women of the twentieth century. His counsel, however, is not 
entirely inappropriate to-day, for he was evidently seeking to 
restrain a selfish, militant type of feminism that is as hostile 
to the peace of the modern home as it was to that of the Chris- 
tian families in Corinth. The principle that Paul was en- 
deavouring to establish was that the happiness of the home is 
destroyed whenever husbands or wives are simply intent upon 
defending their individual rights. Only as both find their true 
life by losing it in the service of each other and of the small so- 
cial group of which they are the head, are peace and happiness 
assured. 

Again, in even stronger terms, Paul emphasises the equal or 
greater obligations of husbands (Eph. 5 25 ) : 

As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, so hus- 
bands ought to love their wives, even as they do their own bodies. 

Thus Paul declares that in the family, as in every social re- 
lation, the supreme right of the Christian is the right to love 
and serve. 

The Duties of Parents and Children. Paul reiterated 
the old command .(Col. 3 20 ) : 

Children, obey your parents at every point, for this is right for 
those who belong to the Lord; 

but with keen insight born of wide observation, he added 
(Col. 3 21 ): 

Fathers, do not irritate your children, lest you make them 
sullen. 



296 PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

In the parallel passage in Ephesians 6 4 he again enjoins parents 
to "bring up their children in the discipline and admonition of 
the Lord." Thus Paul not only reiterated a fundamental tenet 
of Judaism, but also the principle underlying the modern re- 
ligious education movement. Upon parents he laid the chief 
responsibility for the moral and religious education of their 
children. At the same time he enjoined them to use that 
superlative tact which is required if this most important of 
parental duties is to be successfully performed. 

The Responsibilities of Masters and Servants. Paul 
taught that the duty of a Christian was to be content with his 
lot (I Cor. 7 17 - 21 ): 

Let each man continue in the condition of life which the Lord 
has assigned to him, just as when God called him. Thus I laid 
down the rule to all the churches. Were you a slave when you were 
called? Do not mind that; but if you are able to get free, make 
use of the opportunity. 

It is to be noted that Paul is here speaking not to masters but 
to slaves. In this teaching he has doubtless rightly inter- 
preted the spirit of his Master, although the event was to prove 
that the Golden Rule contained sufficient dynamic power to 
break in time the fetters from every slave and to set all man- 
kind free. Paul himself seems to have had this great concep- 
tion hovering on the border of his consciousness when he added 
(I Cor. 7 22 ): 

A slave when he is called to be in the Lord is a freedman of the 
Lord. 

In his letter to his Colossian friend Philemon Paul, however, 
commends to his Christian master a runaway slave who has 
been converted under the apostle's kindly teaching and who 
was now returning to resume his old relationship. The explana- 
tion of this seeming inconsistency is that Paul probably rec- 
ognised that Christianity abrogated the principle underlying 
slavery, although for the moment it did not sweep away the 
institution; for he declared repeatedly (Col. 3 11 , cf. Gal. 3 26 ): 



MASTERS AND SLAVES 297 

In that new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised 
nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor freedman; but 
Christ is everything and in all of us. 

"That new creation" was in Paul's mind not an indefinite, 
distant dream, but a vivid, present reality. In the Christian 
commonwealth that had suddenly sprung up in the heart of 
the Roman Empire there were no social distinctions. The 
only standard that determined honour was service performed. 
Hence, while the old inherited social institutions still survived, 
Paul could say with absolute consistency (Col. 3 22, 23 ): 

Servants [literally, slaves], obey your earthly masters in every- 
thing; not only when their eye is on you, as those who aim simply 
to please men, but with single purpose, because you revere the 
Lord. Whatever you are doing, work at it heartily, as servants 
of the Lord, and not of men. 

In the Christian commonwealth the path that led to honour 
and to eminence lay along the way marked out by each man's 
individual gifts and training (Eph. 6 8 ): 

Know that every one, slave or free, will be paid back by the 
Lord for whatever good he has done. 

To all Christian slave-masters, as well as to those who to- 
day direct the labour of their fellow men, Paul gave command 
(Eph. 6 9 ) : 

And you masters, act in the same way to your servants, and 
cease threatening them. Know that they and you both have a 
Master in heaven, and that there is no partiality about him. 

Here is indeed a solution of the age-long contest between 
labour and capital that is both equitable and practical. It 
inspires both employer and employee to struggle not for their 
individual rights, but for the faithful discharge of their re- 
spective responsibilities. When each does this, the rights of 
each will inevitably be conserved. Here, as in every social 



298 PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

relation, Paul emphasises responsibilities rather than mere 
rights. Above all, he makes the ruling motive, not individual 
nor class interest, but loyalty to a common Master and to the 
eternal principles of justice and brotherhood. 

The Value and Use of Wealth. Paul in his own personal 
life followed closely in the footsteps of him who had not where 
to lay his head. As he declares in one of his latest and most 
intimate letters (Phil. 4 llb - 13 ): 

I have learned how to be content wherever I am. I know 
how to live humbly; I also know how to live amidst abundance. 
I have been initiated into every secret of life, both of plenty and 
of hunger, of abundance and of want. I can do all things in him 
who strengthened me. 

Not the least element in the Christian liberty in which Paul 
exulted was his complete freedom from the bonds which the 
possession of wealth silently weave about a man. With a pair 
of willing hands, trained in the art of tent-making, Paul was 
abundantly able to defy want wherever it overtook him. In the 
hour of need, when his hands were bound, he found himself rich 
through the generosity of his loyal Philippian friends (Phil. 4 18 ). 
Paul, however, was not a vague economic theorist. In I Co- 
rinthians 9 1 - 10 he contends stoutly for the principle of a living 
wage for all who contribute to the well-being of society: 

Have we no right to eat and drink at the expense of the churches ? 
Does a soldier provide his own supplies? Does a man plant a 
vineyard without eating its produce? Does a shepherd get no 
drink from the milk of the flock? 

On the other hand, he laid down the basal and far-reaching 
economic law (II Thess. 3 10 ): 

If a man is not willing to work, he shall not eat. 

This is another of the fundamental Christian principles that 
are yet to be fully applied in the economic world, which, when 
fully accepted and incorporated in our social institutions will 



VALUE AND USE OF WEALTH 299 

go far to correct the glaring evils of modern society. The 
statutes providing for large income and inheritance taxes, en- 
acted in recent times by most Christian nations, rest squarely 
on this principle. The lamentable fact remains that many of 
our modern institutions, and especially the older laws of inheri- 
tance, still disastrously hamper the free and full application of 
this fundamental Christian principle, which may well have come 
down directly from the lips of Jesus. It certainly is implied 
in his still broader teaching that the only basis of honour in the 
new social order is service. Paul's fundamental economic law 
strikes equally at the idle pauper and the idle rich, and at all 
similar types of vicious social parasitism. It is obvious that 
there is no place for the drone in the Christian social order. 

Paul has little to say about wealth. He evidently accepted 
Jesus' teaching on this subject as final. Most of the Christians 
to whom he wrote were not burdened with great riches. In 
many practical ways he encouraged them to accept and apply 
the Christian principle of stewardship. The duty of ministering 
to the needs of the saints, both within and without the local 
churches, was ever kept before them; and they nobly responded. 
Paul clearly lays down the laws of Christian giving in his last 
letter to the Corinthian church (II Cor. 9 7-12 ): 

Each of you is to give as he has made up his mind to give — not 
grudgingly nor under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 
God is also able to supply you bountifully with every gift, so that 
you may always have enough for all of your own needs, as it is 
written: 

He scattereth his gifts to the poor, 
His righteous acts remain forever. 

He who furnishes the seed for the sower and bread to eat will 
supply you with seed and multiply it and will increase the fruits 
of your charity. You will be enriched in every way so as to show 
all liberality, which through us makes men give thanks to God. 
For the service rendered by this sacred gift not only supplies the 
wants of the saints, but in addition causes many a cry of thanks- 
giving to God. 



300 PAUL'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TEACHINGS 

There is no doubt that Paul, like Jesus, encouraged industry 
and the private ownership of property. He recognised that the 
responsibilities connected with the stewardship of property were 
essential to the development of social citizens. He did not 
advocate any mechanical law of giving, for he, like Jesus, was 
fully aware that the largest profit from generous giving accrues 
to the giver. 

Happier is he who gives than he who receives 

embodied a vital principle. If this principle was to be fully 
operative, it would be necessary for all giving to be absolutely 
voluntary. 

At the same time Paul was careful to cultivate the habit of 
giving among all his converts. The methods which he used to 
develop the Christian spirit of stewardship are worthy of care- 
ful study. In the first place, he constantly held up before the 
members of the different Christian communities concrete causes 
that appealed to their generosity. The first was the needs of 
their poor or more unfortunate brothers within the community 
itself. The second was the possibility of developing the mis- 
sion fields that lay at their door. Above all, he kept ever before 
them the needs of the saints at Jerusalem. Gifts to the mother 
church were especially significant in Paul's eyes, for they were 
powerful forces in promoting the unity of the Jewish and 
Gentile sections of the Christian church. Paul also knew the 
psychological value of holding up for emulation concrete ex- 
amples of generous giving. Thus concerning the Macedonian 
Christians he wrote to those of Corinth (II Cor. 8 3 - 4 ): 

I can testify that according to their means, and even beyond 
7 their means, they have given freely. With much entreaty they 
begged us for the favour of sharing in the service in behalf of the 
saints. 

Paul also endeavoured to banish the supreme foe of generous 
giving, which is a fear of the future and a tendency to hoard 
up one's resources beyond all reason. Here the Christian's 



VALUE AND USE OF WEALTH 301 

faith in God and loyalty to society are the only correctives. 
Paul showed that undue hoarding of wealth is not only faith- 
less stewardship, but — more deadly still — is evidence of lack of 
confidence in the divine Giver of all wealth and life. In every 
form of business God is the major partner. With true eco- 
nomic sense Paul pointed out the utter unwisdom of not trust- 
ing and of ignoring this major partner. Thus Paul, in his prac- 
tical efforts to train liberal citizens of the divine commonwealth, 
appealed to their sympathies, to their loyalty, to their spirit of 
wholesome emulation, to their business sense, to their faith, 
and even to their sane self-interest. It is also significant that 
his methods were eminently successful. When he returned for 
the last time to Jerusalem, he was accompanied by a repre- 
sentative committee, appointed by the Gentile churches to bear 
their generous gifts to the mother church. It was the concrete 
evidence, as he assured the Corinthian and Macedonian Chris- 
tians (II Cor. 8 2 ), that "their deep poverty had overflowed in a 
flood of generous liberality." 



XXVI 

PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

Paul's Two Dominant Social Aims. Two great social aims 
animated Paul in all his missionary work. The first was to de- 
velop perfect social citizens. The second was to unite them in a 
closely knit fraternity or brotherhood until it would include all 
races of men. These dominant aims are clearly stated in I 
Corinthians 9 19 - 23 : 

For though I am free from all, I have made myself the slave of 
all in order to win the more converts. To the Jews I have be- 
come like a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law I 
have been as if I were under the law in order to win those under 
the law. To those outside the law I have become as one outside 
the law — though I am not outside the law of God, but under 
Christ's law — in order that I may win those outside the law. To 
the weak I have become as weak myself in order to win over the 
weak. To all men I have become all things in order to save some 
in all of these ways. And I do all of these things for the sake of 
the gospel in order that I may share in it. 

First Corinthians 10 33 contains Paul's great social confession 
of faith: 

I seek to satisfy all men in all points, aiming not at my own 
advantage, but at that of the many in order that they may be 
saved. 

This comprehensive social ideal was well worthy of a scion 
of the widely scattered Jewish race and a citizen of the far-flung 
Roman empire. He held it, however, because his whole at- 
titude toward life had been transformed by contact with the 
revolutionising social teachings of Jesus. 

302 



PAUL'S DOMINANT SOCIAL AIMS 303 

His conception of the necessary qualifications of a social 
citizen is closely parallel to that of Jesus. The chief value of 
this portrayal lies not in its originality but in the fact that it 
completes certain details of the portrait that are lacking in the 
gospels. Paul took Jesus' plan of the fraternal community and 
adapted it to the conditions that prevailed outside Palestine. 
Jesus was pre-eminently a teacher, while Paul was an organiser, 
and as such contributed much to shaping the new social order 
that rose on the foundations laid by Jesus. 

The Characteristics of a Christian Citizen. Like all the 
great teachers of the Bible, Paul sought to hold up before his 
readers for their emulation a complete picture of the fully 
developed Christian citizen. Into that picture he has wrought 
his own aspirations and experiences, as well as the ideals of 
Jesus which devoted Christian tradition had handed down. 
The personality which dominates that picture is none other 
than that of the Master in whose service Paul unflinchingly 
faced the perils of land and sea. In Galatians 5 22, 23 , after de- 
scribing the crimes that disqualify men for citizenship in the 
kingdom of God, Paul, in one of his torrential sentences, enu- 
merates the positive qualifications: 

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kind- 
ness, generosity, fidelity, gentleness, self-control — there is no law 
against those who do these things. 

He makes it very clear that the foundation of character is 
temperance and purity of life (Gal. 5 19 " 21 ; Eph. 5 3 " 5 ). Every 
loyal follower of the crucified and glorified Nazarene holds in 
leash his bodily appetites and passions (Gal. 5 24 ). 

With that unique psychological intuition which is born of 
personal experience Paul also taught the way in which this 
mastery could be achieved. It was to follow the guidance of the 
divinely inspired spiritual ideals and emotions which are at 
work within the mind of every man who is responsive to them 
(Gal. 5 16 - 17 ): 

But I tell you : ' Walk by the guidance of the spirit, and then 
you certainly will not indulge the craving of the flesh.' For the 



304 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

craving of the flesh is opposed to that of the spirit, and the crav- 
ing of the spirit to that of the flesh, for these two are antagonistic 
to each other, so that you cannot do everything which you are 
inclined to do. 

The Christian citizen is sincere and honest in all his dealings 
with his fellow men (Col. 3 9 - 10 , Eph. 4 28 ): 

Do not tell lies to one another, for you have stripped off the old 
mankind with its practices and have put on the new mankind, 
which is being renewed in knowledge into the likeness of its Creator. 
He who has been a thief must steal no more, but instead should 
work, performing with his own hands honest labour that he may 
have something to give to him who is in need. 

His spirit is humble and thoroughly democratic (Rom. 12 16 ) : 

Strive not for the high things, but associate with the humble. 
Do not be self-conceited. 

He is sympathetic, kind, patient, and forgiving (Col. 3 12 « 13 ): 

Therefore, as God's own chosen, consecrated and beloved, be 
clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. 
Bear with one another and forgive one another, if any one has a 
complaint against another. Just as the Lord forgave you, so you 
must forgive. 

Like his Master, Paul strongly emphasises the primary social 
virtue of forgiveness. He was also keenly alive to the impor- 
tance of ever holding right ideas and ideals in the centre of 
consciousness (Phil. 4 8 ) : 

Brothers, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are 
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- 
pute, if there be any virtue or anything worthy of praise, think 
on these things. 

Above all, the truly social citizen is ever on the alert to do a 
Service for his fellow men (Gal. 6 9, 10 ): 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHRISTIAN 305 

And let us not grow weary of doing what is right, for in due 
season we shall reap if we faint not. So then, as we have oppor- 
tunity, let us do good to all men and especially to those who are 
of the household of faith. 

In faithful service to God and man he is to find his true hap- 
piness. Like his Master, Paul himself found great joy in his 
work, even though he constantly faced bitter opposition and 
persecution and endured untold hardships. A jubilant note 
runs through most of his letters. He is constantly calling upon 
his fellow Christians to rejoice at all times (I Thess. 5 16 ). In the 
love-letter to the Philippians which he wrote when he was a 
prisoner facing death, he exclaims (Phil. 4 4 ) : 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice. 

Almost the last words that have come from his pen are 
(Phil. 4 10 ) : 

I rejoice in the Lord greatly ! 

It was this joyous, dauntless, heroic spirit that made the 
social movement which Jesus initiated invincible during the 
first Christian century. It is a characteristic of every man who 
is working to establish in the world the new social order which 
he proclaimed. Even the stern Pharisee Paul fully realised in 
experience the truth asserted by Jesus in his paradoxical beati- 
tudes. 

The Crowning Virtues of the Social Citizen. Paul, as well 
as Jesus, was well aware that perfect citizens cannot be made 
by rule or prescription. He had learned by experience and 
observation that knowledge often puffs up rather than inspires 
men to social acts (I Cor. 8 1 )- With clear insight he recognised 
what many earnest Christians have later failed to appreciate, 
namely, that ecstatic religious experiences and emotions are not 
necessarily the marks of the true followers of Jesus. Mere 
charity is not in itself the evidence of developed sbcial citizen- 
ship. Fanatical zeal that prompts extreme acts of self- 
renunciation is not the final proof of genuine social conscious- 
ness. It is love for God and man that alone builds up the 



306 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

perfect social citizen (I Cor. 8 3 ). In immortal terms Paul de- 
scribes this, the crowning, all-embracing characteristic in his 
hymn of love (I Cor. 13). Love's pre-eminence lies in its so- 
cial qualities. It is indeed the parent of all the significant social 
virtues. No biblical writer emphasises this fact more strongly 
than does Paul : 

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels 

But have not love, 

I am become like sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 

Though I have the gift of prophecy, 

And know all mysteries and all knowledge, 

And have such faith that I can remove mountains, 

But have not love, I am nothing. 

Though I distribute all my goods to the poor, 

And give up my body to be burned, 

But have not love, it profits me nothing. 

Love is patient and kind, 

Love knows no jealousy, 

Love is neither boastful nor conceited, 

It is not shameless nor self-seeking, 

It is never provoked nor resentful, 

It rejoices not in evil, 

But rejoices in the truth. 

It covers all faults, 

It believes all things, 

It hopes all things, 

It endures all things. 

Love never fails; 

As for prophecies, they shall be set aside, 

As for tongues, they shall cease, 

As for knowledge, it shall be set aside; 

For we know in part, 

And we prophesy in part, 

But when that which is perfect comes, 

That which is imperfect shall be set aside. 

And so these three abide: 

Faith, hope, and love. 

But the greatest of these is love. 



ATTITUDE TOWARD CIVIL AUTHORITIES 307 

The Christian's Attitude toward Civil Authorities. Paul 

declared that he and his fellow Christians were citizens of a 
spiritual kingdom. The twelfth chapter of Romans, which 
summarises his chief social teachings, opens with a call to com- 
plete consecration and loyalty to their divine King (Rom. 
12 1 - 2 ): 

I beseech you, therefore, brothers, on account of the mercies 
of God, dedicate your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and accept- 
able to God, for this is your reasonable service. And do not be 
moulded in conformity to this world, but be transformed through 
the complete renewal of your mind, so that you may be able to 
make out what is the will of God, even what is good and acceptable 
and perfect. 

This is Paul's characteristic paraphrase of Jesus' command to 
"seek first the kingdom of God." He did not make the mis- 
take, however, that many of his interpreters have made and 
ignore the Christian citizen's obligations to existing society. 
In his mind there was no antithesis between citizenship in 
heaven and citizenship in the Roman empire. Paul lived 
under the reign of Tiberius and Claudius, both of whom, not- 
withstanding their glaring personal faults, were exceedingly 
zealous to give a just rule to the provinces of the empire. The 
great statesman-apostle was also eager to preserve the friendly 
relations which hitherto had existed between the Roman au- 
thorities and the Christians. He had no occasion to discuss the 
Christian citizen's duty when emperor and rulers make unjust 
demands. His whole aim was to make perfectly clear to each 
Christian that he was under obligation to perform willingly and 
faithfully every duty that devolved upon him as a citizen of the 
community and nation in which he lived. He makes it a re- 
ligious as well as a social obligation. Under the autocratic rule 
of Rome the only ways in which the individual citizen could 
show his devotion to the state were by willing obedience and by 
the prompt payment of taxes. The principle, however, is the 
same whether the background be a despotic monarchy or a 
democracy where a supreme responsibility rests upon each 
citizen (Rom. 13 1 - 7 ): 



308 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

Every individual must obey those who rule over him, for there 
is no authority apart from God; the existing authorities have 
been constituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority 
is resisting the order established by God, and they who oppose it 
will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are no terror to 
right-doers but to wrong-doers. You wish, do you not, to have 
no fear of authority? Then do what is right and you will be 
commended by it, for a ruler is the servant of God for your good. 
But if you do wrong, you have cause to fear, for he does not bear 
the sword for nothing, for he is God's servant to inflict divine 
punishment upon evil-doers. It is necessary, therefore, that we 
should obey, not only to avoid divine vengeance, but also for con- 
science' sake. For this same reason we pay taxes, for tax col- 
lectors are God's servants, devoting their energies to this very 
thing. Render to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, 
taxes to whom taxes, respect to whom respect, and honour to whom 
honour is due. 



Underlying Paul's teaching are the two fundamental prin- 
ciples laid down by Jesus: (1) that honour is due to public 
officials simply in proportion to the service which they render 
the community, and (2) the duty of the social citizen is to 
render to each his proper due. 

The Christian Citizen's Obligations to His Fellow Chris- 
tians. Paul is exceedingly explicit in his definition of the ob- 
ligations which each Christian owes to the other members of 
the Christian brotherhood. Instead of teaching favouritism or 
exclusiveness, he is here defining the duties of every citizen in 
the new social order of which the individual Christian com- 
munities were prototypes. Never was a higher ideal of citizen- 
ship held up before mankind; and yet only as this ideal is real- 
ised can a perfect social order be established. 

Genuine love for one's fellow Christians is, Paul reiterates, 
the great social solvent. This love, to be effective, must domi- 
nate the whole man and determine his every thought and act. 
In a series of kinetic sentences, vibrant with the personality of 
the great apostle, he presents the ideal of love dominating all 
social relations (Rom. 12 9 - 13 > 15 > 16a ): 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN'S OBLIGATIONS 309 

Let love be without hypocrisy; abhor what is evil, cleave to 
what is good. In your love for your brothers feel true affection 
for one another. In matters of honour yield to one another. 
Be not lacking in zeal; keep alive the spiritual glow; serve the 
Lord; rejoice in your hope; be steadfast in trouble, persistent in 
prayer; contribute to the needs of the saints, constantly practise 
hospitality. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those 
who weep. Think in harmony one with another. 

It requires little imagination to picture the society which 
would arise when all or even a majority of its citizens lived in 
accord with these practical injunctions. Paul taught that the 
Christian citizen should give not only of his means but himself 
to the service of his fellows. Upon his shoulders he placed 
the responsibility of restoring the morally weak and fallen 
(Gal. 6 1 ' 2 ): 

Even if any one is caught in some wrong act, brothers, you 
who are spiritual must set such a one right in a spirit of gentle- 
ness. Let each one of you look to himself lest you be tempted. 
Bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. 

At the same time Paul did not for a moment encourage lazy 
dependence on others (Gal. 6 3-6 ): 

If any one imagines that he is somebody when he is nobody, he 
is deceiving himself. Let every one test his own work and then 
he will have something to boast about on his own account, and 
not in comparison with his neighbour. For every one will have to 
bear his own load. Each one who is taught should share all the 
good things of life with those who teach him the word. 

To this he added the wise injunction (Rom. 13 8 ) : 

Owe no man anything, except to love one another, for he who 
loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. 

On the authority of Jesus Paul commanded the Thessalonian 
Christians to punish not by force but by social ostracism the 



310 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

brother who defiantly refused to contribute his part to the com- 
mon service (II Thess. 3 6 ) : 

We command you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, to shun any brother who is an idler and not living ac- 
cording to the teaching which he received from us. 

Into the field of business Paul, in his letter to the contentious 
Corinthian Christians, carried the same principles of justice and 
fraternity (I Cor. 6 1-7 ) : 

If one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare to 
go to law before sinful pagan judges and not before the saints? 
Do you not know that the saints are to sit in judgment upon the 
world? If the world is to come under your jurisdiction, are you 
incapable of deciding petty questions? Do you not know that 
you are to sit in judgment upon angels, to say nothing of the 
things of this life, and yet, when you have things of this life to 
decide, do you refer them to the judgment of men who are of no 
account in the church? I speak in order to put you to shame. 
Has it come to this that there is not one wise man among you who 
is able to decide between a man and his brother instead of one 
brother going to law with another, and that before unbelievers? 
Therefore, the fact that you have lawsuits with one another is 
convincing evidence of a defect in you. Why not rather let your- 
self be wronged ? 

Thus the experienced apostle took his stand squarely in favour 
of arbitration. Like his Master, he sought to go further and to 
kindle a spirit of devotion to the larger interests of the com- 
munity that would make arbitration unnecessary. When men 
and classes learn to "think in harmony with one another" the 
bitter contentions that rend society become impossible. Upon 
the strong, he declared, rests the responsibility of bearing the 
burdens of the weak. Men and classes who are intent on build- 
ing up their fellow men have no time nor taste for maligning 
and murderous strife (Rom. 15 1-3 ) : 

We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, 
and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neigh- 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN'S OBLIGATIONS 311 

bour in order to do him good by building him up. And this is 
our duty, for Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, 
'The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me. 

Far-reaching in its social bearing is Paul's noble exhortation 
which echoes the teachings of Jesus (Rom. 14 13 ) : 

Therefore, let us no longer criticise one another. Rather make 
this decision, never to put any stumbling block or hindrance in 
your brother's way. 

Into his last great epistle, the intimate letter which he wrote 
to the Philippians, Paul has compacted the essential principles 
of Christian citizenship (Phil. 2 1 - 4 ): 

If, then, there is any way of appealing to you as followers of 
Christ, if there is any persuasion in love, if there is any fellowship 
of the Spirit, or if you have any tender-heartedness and compas- 
sion, make my joy complete by being of one mind. > United by 
mutual love and a feeling of harmony, have the one aim in mind. 
Do nothing under the influence of factiousness and vainglory, but 
with humility let each regard the rest as better than himself. 
Let each of you look out not merely for his own interests, but 
each for those of others also. 

The Christian's Duty to Non-Christians and Enemies. 
Toward the larger heathen world, with which every Christian 
citizen came into close contact, Paul urged his fellow Chris- 
tians to maintain the same honourable relations (I Thess. 
411,12). 

We beseech you, brothers, to endeavour to live peacefully, to 
attend to your own business, and, as we charged you, work with 
your own hands, so that you may live worthy lives m your rela- 
tions to those without, and not be a burden to any one. 

In I Thessalonians 5 15 he lays down the rule, the observance 
of which distinguishes the truly social from the non-social 
citizen: 



312 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

See that no one of you pays back evil for evil, but always seek 
for opportunities of doing good to one another and to all men. 

This same teaching is urged in even stronger terms in Romans 
12 u > 17 " 21 - 

Bless those who persecute you, bless and curse them not. Do 
not pay back evil for evil to any one; take thought for what is 
seemly in the eyes of all. If possible, as far as it depends on you, 
live at peace with all men. Never revenge yourselves, beloved, 
but give place to the wrath of God; for it is written, 'Vengeance is 
mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' Rather, if your enemy is hun- 
gry feed him, if he is thirsty give him drink; for in so doing you will 
heap coals of fire on his head. Be not conquered by evil, but con- 
quer evil by doing good. 

To "conquer evil by doing good" is the fundamental prin- 
ciple which he lays down for the guidance of the Christian citizen 
in all the unpleasant relations of life. Back of all, as the mo- 
tive power, is loyalty to God (I Cor. 10 31 ) : 

Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory 
of God. 

The Christian Commonwealth. Many incidental references 
indicate that Paul accepted Jesus' ideal of the kingdom of God. 
That ideal always lies in the background of his consciousness 
(e. g., Gal. 5 21 , I Cor. 6 10 ); but he uses the term kingdom of 
God only rarely. He preferred instead the term "body of 
Christ," for it associated the ideal more closely with its au- 
thor and emphasised the close unity of the fraternal commu- 
nity which represented the concrete realisation of Jesus' social 
plan. The two correlative terms are characteristic respec- 
tively of Jesus and Paul. The one stresses the principle — 
loyalty to God ; the other the external embodiment of this ideal. 
Paul the Roman citizen was enthralled by the splendour of the 
Roman imperial system. He naturally thought in terms of 
world empire and sought to express Jesus' social ideals in def- 
inite organisation and institutions. He it was who to a large 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH 313 

extent developed the churchly type of organisation. Paul, 
however, used the term body of Christ to describe not merely 
the diverse membership of an individual church, but also " the 
new creation" (Col. 3 11 ), "the new mankind" (Eph. 2 15 ), the 
new commonwealth that included all who accepted Jesus' so- 
cial principles as their guide in life (I Cor. 12 12 - 13 ): 

As the human body is one, yet has many members, and all the 
members form one body, though they are so many, so it is with 
Christ. For by one Spirit we have all been baptised into one 
body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or freedmen. We have all 
been nourished by one Spirit. 

Paul also employed this striking term because it was thor- 
oughly democratic, and at the same time emphasised the close 
unity of the fraternal community, the importance of each in- 
dividual, and his responsibility to the entire body. Here is a 
social plan which enables every man, however humble or in- 
efficient, to do the work for which he is fitted. To each is 
vouchsafed the inspiration of feeling that he is contributing to 
the fraternal community that which is absolutely indispensable. 
The well-being and glory of the whole he enjoys as his own. 
He is a citizen not of an obscure province, but of a common- 
wealth that extends to the ends of the earth and knows no tem- 
poral bounds. All his interests and outlook on life are thereby 
intensified and enlarged (I Cor. 12 14 - 20 - 26 > 27 ): 

For even the human body does not consist of one member but 
many. If the foot were to say, 'Because I am not the hand, I do 
not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part 
of the body. If the ear were to say, ' Because I am not the eye, 
I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a 
part of the body. If all the body were an eye, where would the 
hearing be? If all the body were an ear, where would the smell 
be ? But as it is, God hath placed the members in the body, each 
as he pleased. If they are all but one member, where would the 
body be ? As it is, there are many members and one body. And 
if one member suffers, all members suffer with it. If one member 



314 PAUL'S IDEAL OF CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP 

is honoured, all the members share its honour. You, indeed, are 
Christ's body and individually members of it. 

Paul found the figure of the different members of the human 
body exceedingly effective in driving home the importance of 
individual loyalty to the fraternal community and the necessity 
that each devote his individual gifts to the common good (Rom. 
12 3 - 8 ; cf. I Cor. 12 21 " 25 . 28 -3i): 

By virtue of the divine authority granted to me, I charge every 
one of you not to think of himself more than he ought to think; 
but so to think that he will attain a sane estimate of himself ac- 
cording to the degree of faith which God has apportioned to each. 
For just as in our one body we have many members, and all the 
members do not have the same functions, so we, though many, 
are one body in Christ and we are each members one with another. 
We have different gifts according to the grace that is given us; if 
it is prophecy let us use it in proportion to our faith; if practical 
service, in practical service; the teacher must do the same in 
teaching; he who exhorts in his exhortation; he who gives must 
do it liberally; he who is an authority must be in earnest; he who 
does acts of mercy must do them cheerfully. 

The Christianity of Jesus and Paul presents a social pro- 
gramme that sweeps away all narrow class and racial and na- 
tional barriers, and binds all men together by the bonds of 
common self-interest, faith, service, and love. In Ephesians 
44.7, 11-16 p au l presents the constitution of this new social order: 

There is one body and one spirit — one hope was held out to 
you as the goal of your calling — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
one God and Father of all, who is over us all, acts through us all, 
and is in us all. But to each of us has been given his own grace, 
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 

Christ himself granted some to be apostles, some to be prophets, 
some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, in order 
that the saints may be fully equipped for the work of service, 
that is, for the upbuilding of the body of Christ, until we all at- 
tain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of God's son, even 
to the perfect manhood and to the full measure of maturity which 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH 315 

belongs to the fulness of Christ, that we may no longer be babes, 
blown from our course and carried here and there by every passing 
wind of doctrine, by the adroitness of men who are skilful in mak- 
ing use of every evil device to mislead. Rather we are to hold 
to the truth and by our love grow up wholly into union with him 
who is our head, even Christ. Dependent on him, the whole 
body is welded together and compacted by every joint with which 
it is supplied, and by the due activity of each part the body is 
enabled to grow so as to build itself up in love. 



XXVII 

THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' SOCIAL PRINCIPLES 
DURING THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY 

The Spread of Jesus' Social Leaven. The second half of 
the first Christian century witnessed a remarkable fulfilment 
of Jesus' implied prediction (Lk. 13 21 ) : 

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and 
hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. 

The social leaven which Jesus injected into human society in 
a distant corner of the Roman empire spread with incredible 
rapidity, until by the end of the first Christian century it was 
beginning to leaven the entire civilised world. This develop- 
ment is all the more significant because it went on in the face of 
the belief firmly held by his followers that Jesus was speedily 
to return to establish a new social order, not by evolutionary 
but by miraculous, revolutionary methods. Another strong in- 
fluence which retarded the free spread of Jesus' social leaven 
was the growing tendency to define Christianity in terms of 
belief rather than of character and acts. Against this para- 
lysing tendency the author of the epistle of James raises a strong 
protest (James 2 14 - 19 ) : 

What use is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith and yet 
has no works ? Can his faith save him ? Suppose a brother or a 
sister is ill-clad or lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 
'Depart in peace; be warmed and well fed,' but does not give 
them what their body needs, what use is that? So faith without 
works is dead in itself. But some one will say, 'You have faith !' 
Yes, and I have works as well. You show me your faith without 

316 



SPREAD OF JESUS' SOCIAL LEAVEN 317 

works and I will show you by works what faith is ! You believe 
in one God? You are quite right; evil spirits also believe and 
shudder. 

Notwithstanding the numerous retarding influences, the later 
New Testament books, with only one or two exceptions, are 
saturated with the social idealism of Jesus and Paul. In a 
few cases they have probably preserved certain of Jesus' social 
teachings not found in the gospels; but for the most part they 
are simply reiterations of the fundamental principles which are 
there laid down. None of these later Christian writers de- 
velops a complete Christian philosophy. But even though their 
teachings are fragmentary, they indicate how completely Jesus' 
social ideals inspired and moulded the lives of his early fol- 
lowers. The cruel persecutions instigated by Nero in 64 a.d. 
and the protracted and wide-spread persecutions during the last 
decade of the first century only intensified the devotion and 
loyalty of the Christians to each other and to the ideals of their 
Master. Practically all of the later New Testament writings 
are the outgrowth of these persecutions, and especially those of 
Domitian; and they vividly reveal the social atmosphere in 
which the early Christian martyrs lived. 

The Duties of Wives and Husbands. Certain of the teach- 
ings in I Peter may come directly from the great apostle, but 
the book in its present form is probably not earlier than 85 or 
90 a.d. It is really a practical homily addressed to persecuted 
Christians throughout the Roman empire. In a direct and 
practical way it deals with certain universal problems. In its 
teachings regarding the mutual responsibilities of husbands and 
wives it carries the Golden Rule into the family life (I Pet. 
3 1 - 4 ): 

Wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that, even if some 
of these husbands do not believe the word, they may be won 
over, apart from the word, through the behaviour of their wives, 
when they see how reverent and blameless your behaviour is. 
Let not your behaviour be one of outward adornment, one of 
plaiting the hair, putting on ornaments of gold or wearing apparel. 



318 THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' PRINCIPLES 

Instead, it should be a new nature in the heart, with the incor- 
ruptible beauty of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is of rare 
value in the sight of God. 

The emphasis here is placed not on the rights but on the su- 
preme opportunities and responsibilities of the Christian wife. 
Even the seemingly impassable chasm which yawned between 
the pagan and the Christian is to be bridged by love. The 
principle invoked is that so nobly set forth in the Second Isaiah's 
portrait of the servant of Jehovah, which is reiterated in Paul's 
immortal declaration that he would be " all things to all men to 
win all to Christ." The submission here demanded is voluntary 
— a worthy means to a noble end — not slavish nor demeaning. 

The obligation imposed upon husbands is even heavier 
(I Pet. 3 7 ): 

Likewise, you husbands, be considerate as you live together 
with your wives, recognising that they belong to the weaker sex. 
Also treat them as heirs, equally with you, of the gift of life, so 
that your prayers may not be hindered. 

Perhaps no passage in all the Bible has been more misinter- 
preted and misused. Women are here spoken of as " the weaker 
sex," not in the mental or spiritual, but in the physical sense. 
Like all the great social teachings of the Bible, this rests squarely 
on an ultimate scientific fact. The passage reflects the superb 
chivalry which Jesus inspired by all his teachings regarding 
woman. The husband's loving consideration for the more 
delicate sensibilities of the wife is one of the most effective 
preventives of the ghastly array of divorces which are the shame 
of our modern civilisation. It is also significant that the author 
places woman on an absolute equality with man in sharing the 
finer spiritual heritages which enrich life. He also aims to bind 
husbands and wives together by the invincible bonds of re- 
ligion. 

The Obligations of Christian Servants. First Peter con- 
tains practical counsel directed to those who serve society in a 
less prominent capacity. It sets forth simply and directly that 



OBLIGATIONS OF CHRISTIAN SERVANTS 319 

working philosophy of life that insures both harmony and happi- 
ness in the family ; for there can be no strife when all are inspired 
by loyalty to God and have forgotten their personal and class 
interests in their whole-hearted service for the good of the 
social group (I Pet. 2 18 - 23 ) : 

Household servants, be submissive to your masters with all 
respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate but also 
to those who are surly; for it is a merit, when from a sense of a 
duty to God one patiently endures the pains of suffering unjustly 
inflicted. For if you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what 
credit is there in your bearing it patiently? but if, when you do 
right and suffer for it, you bear it patiently this counts as a merit 
in God's sight. 

It is for this that you were called, for when Christ also suffered 
in your behalf, he left you an example that you should follow his 
footsteps. He committed no sin nor was guile found in his mouth. 
When he was reviled he reviled not again; when he suffered he 
never threatened, but left everything to him who judges justly. 

Attitude of the Christian toward His Fellow Christians. 

The author of I Peter has given us a glowing picture of the 
socially minded Christian citizen. It is a practical application 
of the principles laid down by Jesus (I Pet. 3 8-11 ) : 

Finally, you should all be of one mind, sympathetic, kind to 
the brothers, compassionate, humble, not paying back evil for 
evil nor reviling when you are reviled, but on the contrary giving 
a blessing in return, for to this end you have been called that you 
may inherit a blessing, for, 

He who would love life, 

And see good days, 

Let him restrain his tongue from evil, 

And his lips from speaking guile; 

Let him turn from evil and do good, 

Let him seek peace and pursue it. 

As in Jesus' familiar beatitude, peace represents harmony and 
good will between man and God and his fellow man. With 



320 THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' PRINCIPLES 

true insight, the author of the epistle of James declares (James 

3 18 ): 

For the peacemakers who sow in peace there is a harvest of 
righteousness. 

Like Jesus and Paul, the author of I Peter asserts that in all 
social relations love is the great solvent (I Pet, 4 8 - 11 ): 

Above all, be intent upon loving one another, for love hides a 
multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grudging. 
You must serve one another, each with the talents which he has 
received, as excellent stewards of God's manifold goodness. If 
any one preaches, let it be as one who utters the word of God. 
If any one renders a service, let it be in the strength which God 
supplieth, so that in everything God may be glorified through 
Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and the dominion for ever 
and ever. 

The Democracy of the Epistle of James. Whoever be the 
author of the epistle of James, it is at least certain that this 
Christian book of wisdom reflects the experiences and ideals of 
the Palestinian Christian community, which was the lineal heir 
of Jesus' teachings. It is intensely concrete and direct. It 
expresses in clearest terms those democratic ideals which were 
the glory and strength of primitive Christianity (James 2 1 - 9 ) : 

My brothers, as you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is 
our glory, do not show favouritism. For suppose a man comes 
into one of your meetings, wearing gold rings and handsome 
clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes. If 
you attend to the one who wears handsome clothes and say, 'Sit 
here, this is a good place/ and say to the poor man, 'Stand there,' 
or 'Sit at my feet,' are you not making distinctions among your- 
selves and judging people with wrong standards ? Listen, my be- 
loved brothers, hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be 
rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom which he has promised 
to those who love him ? Yet you insult the poor man. Is it not 
the rich who lord it over you and themselves drag you into law 
courts ? Is it not they who revile the noble name you bear ? If, 



THE DEMOCRACY OF JAMES 321 

however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to scripture, 
which says, 'You must love your neighbour as yourself,' you are 
doing well; but if you show partiality you are committing sin and 
are convicted by the law as offenders. 

Most felicitous is the author's designation of the great com- 
mand to love one's neighbour as the "royal law." It is this 
law which levels all distinctions between rich and poor, noble 
and serf, and binds all men together in one great family. In 
the present day, when unchristian distinctions are creeping into 
the church, this passage should be inscribed, if not over the en- 
trance to- every church building, at least upon the minds of all 
who direct the policy of that institution which should stand 
pre-eminently as the embodiment and interpreter of Jesus' 
social principles. To this might well be added the social def- 
inition of religion found in James I 27 : 

The religion that is pure and stainless in the sight of God the 
Father is this: to care personally for orphans and widows in their 
trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. 

Responsibility of Wealth. The attitude of the author of 
the epistle of James toward wealth recalls Luke's version of 
Jesus' teachings: 



Woe to you who are rich ! 

For you are getting your comfort. 



It is clear, however, that the author of James is not indis- 
criminately attacking those who possess wealth, but only those 
who acquire it by unjust means. His words are exceedingly 
direct and concrete (James 5 1 " 6 ) : 

Come now, you rich men, weep and howl over your impending 
miseries. Your riches are rotting, your clothes are moth-eaten, 
your gold and silver are covered with rust and their rust will be 
evidence against you and it will devour your flesh like fire. You 
have been storing up treasures in these last days. See the wages 
due those who have reaped your fields — the wages of which you 



322 THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' PRINCIPLES 

have defrauded them — are calling out against you, and the cries 
of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 
You have revelled here on earth and given yourselves to pleasure; 
you have fattened yourselves as for the day of slaughter; you 
have condemned, you have murdered the righteous man who 
does not resist you. 

These burning words apply equally well to-day to every 
rapacious employer of labour, or to him who so directs the policy 
of any corporation that it is giving the manual labourers in its 
employ less than a living wage, or less than their proportionate 
share in the products of their labour. The foundation of these 
teachings is the Christian principle of the stewardship of wealth. 
It is also important to note that the author is interested not 
merely in the humble toiler who is deprived of his rights, but 
in the rich, who by their foolish acts, like Esau of old, are bar- 
tering away their birthright to happiness in this world, as well 
as in the world to come, for a paltry mess of pottage. As he 
studies life, its supreme tragedy seems to him to be that the 
strong man, whose ability is revealed by his skill in acquiring 
wealth, is, in his pursuit of wrong ambitions (James l 10 ' u ), 

like the flower of the grass, which withers before the rising sun 
and the scorching wind, so that its flower drops off and the 
beauty of its appearance perishes. 

Social Significance of the Apocalyptic Visions in the Book 
of Revelation. The book of Revelation, with its strange 
symbols and its stately apocalyptic style, is a confusing laby- 
rinth to most modern readers. Like the book of Daniel and the 
other Jewish and Christian apocalypses, it belongs to the im- 
pressionistic type of literature. It appeals to the emotions 
rather than to the reason. As Professor James has said, its 
visions " stir chords within us which music and language touch 
in common." The immediate aim of these visions was to bring 
much-needed encouragement to the persecuted Christians 
throughout the Roman empire in the days of Domitian. Its 
practical purpose was to insure faithful Christian living. Like 



THE APOCALYPTIC VISIONS 323 

the immortal poet who speaks through the book of Job, its 
author was also grappling with the perennial problem of the 
justice of the divine rulership of the world. 

Aside from its literary charm and association, the present- 
day value of the book lies in the fact that the culmination of 
its impressive visions is a glowing picture of the new Jeru- 
salem, the perfect social state. This new social order is divine 
in its conception and origin. But, according to the conviction 
of the author, it is to be realised on earth. As in Jesus' ideal 
of the kingdom, God is pictured as the source and centre of 
all authority and life. In this new social state fellowship 
and loyalty are to take the place of force and compulsion 
(Rev. 21 3 ' 4 ): 

And I heard a loud voice out of the throne crying: 

'Lo, God's dwelling place is with men; 
With men will he dwell; 
They will be his people, 
And God will himself be with them. 
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, 
And death will be no more/ 

In this new society only the socially redeemed shall have a 
part (Rev. 21 27 , 22 3 - 4 ): 

Nothing unclean shall ever enter it, 

Nor any one who practises abomination or falsehood. 

None who are accursed shall remain there; 

But the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, 

And his servants shall render him holy service, 

And they shall look upon his face, 

And his name shall be on their foreheads. 

In these impressive words the author of Revelation em- 
phasises the fact that the citizens in the ultimate social order 
must be not only morally upright, but loyally devoted to the 
service of their divine King. All racial and class distinctions 
are broken down; Jesus' principle that glory is due only to those 
who serve is regnant. 



324 THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' PRINCIPLES 

The Christian Law of Love. The first epistle of John 
contains the noblest expression of the spirit of primitive Chris- 
tianity. Whatever be its authorship and date, its thought and 
teachings are closely related to those of Jesus. Here Hosea's 
doctrine of love blossoms forth into full flower. Not creed but 
a commanding love for God and man is set forth as the touch- 
stone of Christianity (I Jn. 3 n « 14 - 18 , 4 7 - 8 ): 

For this is the message you have heard from the very beginning, 
that you are to love one another. We know that we have passed 
over from death to life because we love our brothers. He who 
has no love remains in death. Any one who hates his brother is a 
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remain- 
ing in him. We know also what love is by this, that Christ laid 
down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for the 
brothers. But if any one has this world's wealth and sees his 
brother in need and restrains his sympathy for him, how can love 
for God remain in him? My children, let us show our love not in 
words nor with lips only, but by deed and sincerity. 

Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God and 
every one who loves is born of God and knows God. He who 
does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

The Realisation of Jesus' Social Ideals in the Life of the 
Primitive Church. The first Christian century was a great 
laboratory in which Jesus' social teachings were practically 
tested. As he himself had declared, it was the poor and needy 
who first appreciated and appropriated his ideal of the king- 
dom of God. To them it meant not only freedom and frater- 
nity, but also an opportunity to express themselves in the life 
of the Christian communities which sprang up throughout the 
empire. Within these new social groups unnatural social dis- 
tinctions were largely broken down. Masters and slaves, rich 
and poor, accepted in practice as well as in theory Jesus' trans- 
forming principle: 

One is your Master and you all are brothers. 

Let him who would be first among you be servant of all. 



LIFE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 325 

Love not only levelled all conventional distinctions, but also 
bound each man to his fellows by the indissoluble bond of a 
common faith, common interests, and common endeavour. 
Men forgot their selfish ambitions in their zeal to serve the 
community and the larger body of Christ. Even the hostile 
pagan critics cried out, as they studied these brotherhoods: 
" Look how they love one another ! " Undoubtedly there were 
many exceptions, but in the main the vivid picture of the 
early Christians which the Athenian orator Aristides held up 
before the eyes of the Emperor Hadrian is true to life, for it is 
confirmed by many passages in early Christian writings: 

The Christians know and trust God, the Creator of heaven 
and earth in whom are all things and from whom are all things, 
and who has no other God beside him. From him they have re- 
ceived the commandments which they have engraved on their 
minds and keep in the hope and expectation of the world to come. 
Therefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication; they do 
not bear false witness; they do not deny what has been deposited 
with them, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father 
and mother and show kindness to their neighbours. If they are 
judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols made 
in human form, and whatever they do not wish that others should 
do to them, they do not to others. They do not eat of food offered 
to idols because they are undefiled. They placate those who op- 
press them and make them their friends; they do good to their 
enemies. Their wives are absolutely pure and their daughters 
modest. Their men abstain from every unlawful marriage and 
from all impurity in the hope of future recompense. If any of 
them have bondmen, bondwomen or children, they persuade them 
to become Christians for the love that they have toward them; 
and when they become so they call them without distinction, 
brothers. They do not worship strange gods. They walk in all 
humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them. 
They love one another. They do not refuse to help the widows. 
They rescue the orphan from him who does him violence. He who 
has gives ungrudgingly to him who has not. If they see a stranger, 
they take him to their dwellings and rejoice over him as over a 
real brother; for they do not call themselves brothers after the 



326 THE ADOPTION OF JESUS' PRINCIPLES 

flesh but after the Spirit and in God. When one of their poor 
passes from the world, any one of them who sees it provides for his 
burial according to his ability. And if they hear that any one of 
their number is in prison or oppressed for the name of their Mes- 
siah, all of them provide for his needs. And if it is possible to 
redeem him, they deliver him. If any one among them is poor 
and needy and they do not have food to spare, they fast two or 
three days that they may supply him with the necessary food. 
They scrupulously observe the commands of their Messiah. They 
live honestly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. 
Every morning and every hour they thank and praise God for his 
loving kindnesses toward them; and for their food and drink they 
give thanks to him. If any righteous man among them passes 
from this world, they rejoice and give thanks to God, and they 
escort his body as if he were setting out on a journey from one 
place to another. If, on the other hand, they see that one of their 
number has died in his ungodliness or in his sins, they weep bit- 
terly and sigh as over one who is about to go to punishment. 

As men who know God, they ask from him what is proper for 
him to give and for them to receive. Thus they do throughout 
their entire life. And inasmuch as they acknowledge the loving 
kindnesses of God toward them, lo, because of them there flows 
forth all the beauty that is in the world! But the good deeds 
which they do, they do not proclaim in the ears of the multitude, 
but they take care that no one shall perceive them. They hide 
their gift as one who has found a treasure hides it. Thus they 
labour to become righteous as those who expect to see their Mes- 
siah and to receive from him the glorious fulfilment of the prom- 
ises made to them. Truly this is a new people and there is some- 
thing divine in them ! 



XXVIII 

THE APPLICATION OF THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF 
THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

Christianity's Conquest of and by Rome. The pioneer 
period of struggle and persecution was the noblest era in the 
history of early Christianity. Its later conquest of imperial 
Rome was won at the cost of its social ideals and spiritual 
vigour. Even before the days of Constantine it was led, under 
the pressure of persecution and competition, to build up an 
elaborate hierarchy. When the teachings of the Nazarene were 
nominally accepted as the religion of the empire, this complex 
machinery was blended with that of the Roman state. The 
tragic result was that organised Christianity became "a pillar 
of despotism and the foe of liberty." Under these constricting 
conditions the democratic and social ideals of the prophets and 
Jesus were either explained away or quietly ignored. Through- 
out the world the social evils which Jesus had relentlessly com- 
bated were tolerated and perpetuated in his name. 

The Effects of Christianity's Long Contest with Pagan- 
ism. Many converging influences tended to check the spread 
of the social leaven which Jesus injected into ancient society. 
Transplanted from the soil of Palestine into a very different 
western environment, Christianity underwent great transforma- 
tions. For several centuries its strongest rivals were the popular 
mystery cults. These cults appealed strongly to the people 
through their elaborate ritual and their promises of individual 
happiness and personal salvation in the life beyond the grave. 
Christianity was unconsciously but deeply influenced by these 
contemporary religions. In the early centuries, when com- 
petition with them was strongest, its victories were largely 

327 



328 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

won by compromise. Those Christian converts who had been 
reared in a strongly pagan atmosphere also naturally brought 
with them many of their earlier ideas. Through these channels 
other-worldliness and ceremonialism suddenly came to be the 
most prominent factors in Christianity itself. Jesus had said 
little about individual immortality and had established no rites 
nor institutions. Practically all the elaborate ritual of the 
later church was derived either from Jewish, Greek, Egyptian, 
or Roman sources. The tragic result of these new and power- 
v f ul influences was that the undue emphasis on ceremonial forms 
and other-worldliness, which Jesus had condemned in Judaism, 
took the place of the social passion which he had sought to in- 
spire in his followers. .. • ! 
The Trend toward Monasticism and Asceticism. The 
monasticism and asceticism which characterised the mediaeval 
church were also pagan rather than Christian in their origin. 
They were the result of a natural reaction against the despotic 
type of Christianity which resulted from the fusion of church 
and state. Deprived of individual liberty and self-expression 
in this world, men turned with passionate longing to the life be- 
yond death. By fleeing from society each sought to secure for 
himself the certainty of eternal blessedness. This quest be- 
came the dominant aim of even the noblest souls. Its prac- 
tical effects were distinctly unsocial. True, certain of the later 
monastic orders performed a noble social service for the com- 
munities to which they ministered, but it was simply remedial 
rather than constructive. They worked on the surface instead 
of going to the heart of the social problem. For more than 
twelve centuries monasticism, asceticism, and other-worldliness 
continued to blind men's eyes to the true meaning and practical 
interpretation of Jesus' social gospel. 

The Theological Interpretation of Christianity. Beginning 
with the second century, the leadership of the Christian church 
passed to the early Church Fathers. They were men of Greek 
and Roman training and culture. Through them not only 
Greek philosophical ideals but also Greek methods of thought 
found an increasingly prominent place in Christianity. True 



INTERPRETATION OF CHRISTIANITY 329 

to their inheritance and training, these great leaders regarded 
individual belief as far more important than social living. The 
church began to demand of its followers loyalty to a definite 
creed rather than loyalty to the service of their fellow men. 
As a result the rank and file of the mediaeval church were wholly 
unconscious of the social dynamics which the scriptures con- 
tain. In time, also, the leaders of the western church, fearing 
that these dynamics might prove explosive, took the Bible com- 
pletely out of the hands of the common people. The result was 
that human civilisation for centuries almost reverted to the 
social and moral level of primitive barbarism. 

The Protestant Reformation put the scriptures again into 
the hands of the people; but unfortunately it continued to fix 
their attention chiefly on the theological and largely ignored the 
social teachings of the Bible. The main emphasis was still 
placed on other-worldliness. Religion and practical ethics were 
regarded simply as the means whereby the individual might 
secure a title to future blessedness. There were a few striking 
exceptions; but a majority of the Protestant leaders failed to 
see that the message of historic Christianity is to the living, not 
to the dead, and that it must express itself in human society as 
well as in the soul of the individual. 

Puritanism, with its splendid emphasis on personal ethics, 
still largely lacked the social passion. Its leaders, however, 
were powerfully influenced by the democratic ideals of the proph- 
ets and Jesus. Their heroic efforts to found a Christian com- 
monwealth marked the beginnings of a new social conscious- 
ness. Until the close of the last century, however, a majority 
of the Protestant churches throughout the world were still 
under the chilling shadow of the Middle Ages. Even during 
the last quarter of that century a prominent Protestant theolo- 
gian declared: "Christianity is not a life: it is a dogma \" Bis- 
marck, Germany's most far-seeing statesman, in his last days 
revealed his utter failure to appreciate the democracy of Jesus 
by the strange declaration : " If I were not a Christian, I would 
be a republican." It is evident that organised Christianity of 
the last century lamentably misinterpreted the social gospel of 



330 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

its Founder. The task of the twentieth century is faithfully 
and clearly to reinterpret that gospel into modern terms. 

The Rediscovery of the Social Teachings of the Bible. 
The past half-century has proved pre-eminently an era of dis- 
covery. In many ways the most important achievement of 
this remarkable period has been the rediscovery of the social 
teachings of the prophets and Jesus. This great achievement 
is the direct result of the most powerful forces at work in modern 
life and thought. The Protestant Reformation, in its strong 
reaction against despotic ecclesiasticism, prepared the way for 
a new appreciation of these social principles. Undoubtedly the 
recent conquests of democracy are largely due to the social 
leaven contained in the Bible. On the other hand, the present 
unmistakable trend toward democracy enables the man of the 
twentieth century to read these ancient scriptures with an ab- 
solutely new interest and understanding. The modern scientific 
spirit and method, which have taken the place of the old dog- 
matism and the appeal to arbitrary authority, have created a 
new mental attitude toward the Bible. Moreover, they have 
also made it possible to separate the original social teachings 
of the prophets and Jesus from the conflicting and misleading 
traditions with which they have been encumbered and have 
thus made clear their universal as well as their immediate ap- 
plication. 

The New Social Awakening. The entire tendency of mod- 
ern civilisation is to break down the barriers between nations. 
Great oceans no longer suffice to keep races apart. Travel, 
commerce, and the interchange of ideas have made close neigh- 
bours of the most distant peoples. Even the seemingly im- 
passable, indestructible barrier between the^ East and the West 
is vanishing. To-day the unifying movement which rapidly 
advanced during the first Christian century under the rule of 
Rome is now reaching its culmination. The human race has 
at last awakened to the full realisation of the fact that it is 
but one great family. Men are compelled to think in universal 
social terms. An international patriotism is stirring in the minds 
of the world's true prophets and statesmen. 



THE NEW SOCIAL AWAKENING 331 

Human interests are largely begotten by human needs. 
Throughout all history social problems have existed, but to-day 
men are acutely conscious of them as never before. They also 
see clearly that their own happiness and that of society and of 
future generations depend upon the way in which these problems 
are solved. They are well aware that, although men have 
learned many things and have amassed vast wealth, they have 
not yet learned how to use the fruits of their knowledge and 
achievements to the mutual advantage of all. In this age of 
plenty, thousands, if not millions, are starving, while many 
more who are willing to work are often denied the opportunity. 
Dissatisfaction and social unrest are world-wide. Men to-day 
are not only awake to these insistent problems, but they are 
also studying them with the scientific thoroughness characteris- 
tic of the age. More than that, they are seeking to discover 
and are eager to apply the ultimate social principles which will 
bring permanent order out of the prevailing chaos. With the 
intentness and expectancy of a sick man in distress, they are 
turning to the great social teachers of the past and present 
who promise a remedy for society's ills. 

The Programme of Socialism and That of the Prophets 
and Jesus. The old despotic systems of social organisation are 
being gradually cast aside as worthless. The relentlessly com- 
petitive industrialism which prevails in most countries to-day 
has been weighed and found wanting. Anarchy appeals to no 
sane man, for he realises that in this modern congested world 
individuals must no longer be allowed to follow their uncon- 
trolled impulses. The two social systems which are challeng- 
ing the attention of earnest men to-day are Socialism and Chris- 
tianity. The one is so new that it has not yet crystallised into 
a definite system. Its different advocates and interpreters are 
not fully agreed regarding either its aims or its methods. The 
other is rooted in at least twenty centuries of human experience. 
It is so old that men have nearly forgotten how revolutionary 
are those principles which were finally formulated by the great 
Prophet of Nazareth. The one is a social programme projected 
on the rapidly changing canvas of the future. The other is a 



332 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

way of living and a social plan that has been tried out under 
the most adverse conditions for more than eighteen centuries. 

Obviously any general comparison between Socialism and the 
social plan of the prophets and Jesus is necessarily elusive and 
unsatisfactory. So-called Christian Socialism is simply an at- 
tempt to interpret Jesus' teachings into economic and political 
terms. There are, however, certain outstanding characteristics 
of organised state Socialism and of the social plan of the proph- 
ets and Jesus which admit of definite comparison. Such a 
comparison is not without its value, for in this field there is sore 
need of clear, dispassionate thinking. Even though certain 
types of Anglo-Saxon Socialism seem to be little more than 
organised class greed and hate and the desire to seize the results 
of the labour of the more able and industrious, it is only fair 
to judge a new movement by its ideals as well as by its past and 
present fruits. 

Socialism and Christianity have much in common. Both 
frankly recognise the evils inherent in existing society. Both 
seek to eliminate these evils and to institute a better social 
order. If the conservative definition of a recent writer (Sellars, 
The Next Step in Democracy) be adopted by all classes of Social- 
ists, their aims and those of the leaders of twentieth-century 
Christianity are practically identical: 

Socialism is a democratic movement whose purpose is the secur- 
ing of an economic reorganisation of society which will give the 
maximum possible of justice, liberty, and efficiency, and whose 
plan is a gradual socialising of industry to the degree and extent 
that seem experimentally feasible. 

This statement is in many respects an echo of the declaration 
of the Federal Council of Churches of America in 1908, which 
has been later accepted and expanded by most of the Protestant 
bodies. This declaration states 

that the church must stand for the right of all men to the op- 
portunity for self-maintenance, for the safeguarding of this right 
against encroachments of every kind, and for the protection of 



PROGRAMME OF CHRISTIANITY 333 

the workers from the hardships of enforced labour; the abatement 
and prevention of poverty; the right of employees and employers 
alike to organise, and for adequate means of conciliation and 
arbitration in industrial disputes; the gradual and reasonable 
reduction of the hours of labour to the lowest practicable point, 
and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the 
highest human life; a living wage as a minimum in every industry, 
and for the highest wage that each industry can afford; a new 
emphasis on the application of Christian principles to the ac- 
quisition and use of property, and for the most equitable division 
of the products of industry that can ultimately be devised. 

A Comparison of the Methods of Socialism and Chris- 
tianity. It is in their estimate of values and in their methods 
that thoroughgoing Socialism and historic Christianity differ. 
Socialism places its chief emphasis on material values; Chris- 
tianity on those which are ethical and spiritual. They also 
move on different planes. Socialism focuses its attention chiefly 
on the economic problems of society; Christianity squarely faces 
all its problems. Socialism limits its vision to the present 
physical world; Christianity regards man's life here and beyond 
the grave as arcs of a larger circle. Socialism assumes that a 
man's morals and to a large extent his religion are determined 
by his economic environment, and proposes by a mere economic 
reconstruction to redeem the individual as well as society. 
Christianity denies this fundamental assumption. Although it 
is fully awake to the importance of a right economic and social 
environment, it seeks first to socialise the individual citizens 
and through them to regenerate society. Certainly the Founder 
of Christianity " alone has shown the world how the new social 
man may be produced." 

In general, the method of Socialism is Tevolutionary; that of 
Christianity is evolutionary. Socialism proposes to abolish 
private ownership of capital — at least that which is used in 
social production. The prophets and Jesus make wealth a 
divine trust and seek to complete the training of the social 
citizen through the faithful discharge of the responsibilities of 
stewardship. The social leaven of Christianity commences to 



334 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

work the moment a single individual begins to live in accord 
with Jesus' social teachings; while the ultimate establishment 
of Socialism depends upon the vote of a majority. 

Christianity seeks to lay the foundations of the new social 
order in personal character, while Socialism proposes to create 
it by popular fiat. Socialism simply promises to supply a 
palliative for certain economic evils. The principles of historic 
Christianity, if thoroughly applied, make impossible the very 
conditions out of which these evils spring. That is, Socialism 
seeks to cure the disease, Christianity to remove its causes. 

Socialism as interpreted by its modern exponents and the 
Christianity of Jesus are not necessarily antithetic. In justice 
to the historical facts it must also be admitted that practically 
everything that is attractive in the ideals of Socialism — its 
sense of human brotherhood, its desire to uplift the fallen and 
the oppressed, its effort to secure right living conditions for 
every man, and an opportunity for ample self -development and 
self-realisation — has been drawn from the teachings of the 
Hebrew prophets and Jesus. It is possible that radical and 
perhaps very costly experiments in the near future will demon- 
strate whether or not the programme and methods of Socialism 
are practicable. The success of any social system which deals 
with a part rather than the whole of man and seeks to accom- 
plish the regeneration of society simply by revolutionary eco- 
nomic measures is, to say the least, exceedingly doubtful. Yet 
out of these experiments may come some readjustments which 
will make easier the personal practice of Jesus' teachings. 

The Social Leaven at Work in the Life of the Modern 
Man. Two closely related questions are often asked to-day: 
(1) How far are the social principles of the prophets and Jesus 
being applied in our modern civilisation ? In other words, Is 
that civilisation Christian or pagan or hybrid ? (2) What would 
be the result if they were fully applied? Coming generations 
must furnish the final reply; but it is possible even now to sug- 
gest tentative answers. Jesus' figure of the leaven aptly de- 
scribes the process now at work in society. The dissatisfied or 
stolid faces and the unhappy or dreary lives of a large propor- 
tion of the human race to-day indicate that his social leaven 



THE SOCIAL LEAVEN AT WORK 335 

has not yet deeply permeated their minds, much less their lives. 
Childish, pagan ideals still dominate and hold them in thral- 
dom. They have not found a philosophy of living which gives 
them personal liberty and the inspiration of loyalty to a great 
cause. The result is that they are inert, inefficient social citizens. 

The early Christian centuries, however, had no monopoly of 
the saints. The modern saint wears no halo nor distinctive 
garb. In most cases he does not even suspect that he is a saint. 
Quietly, unostentatiously, he is applying in his own living and 
in all his contacts with his fellow men the essential principles 
of Jesus' social gospel. Often he does not even know whence 
they came. He is found in all stations in life. Sometimes he is 
a heroic father or self-sacrificing mother intent simply on bring- 
ing wholesomeness and harmony into the home. Sometimes he 
is a faithful manual labourer or an honest captain of industry 
eagerly devoted to promoting the well-being of all classes. 
Often he is a tireless social worker or zealous missionary who 
has measured in practical experience the heights and the depths 
of the great principle that he who gives is happier than he who 
receives. In this century of bloody conflict thousands have 
discovered the way of living which Jesus proclaimed because 
they have found their life by losing it in the service of society. 

Sincerity, good will toward all, and loyalty to God and to the 
highest interests of their fellows are the common marks which 
distinguish these knights of a new social order. It is their pres- 
ence which deters us from characterising our modern civilisation 
as entirely pagan. They also vastly aid our imagination when 
we strive to picture the character of a society made up wholly 
of such socially minded Christian citizens. Certainly the vision 
completely eclipses the dreams of the most ardent Socialists. 
And yet its realisation lies directly along the lines already 
marked out, not only by the prophets, but by the present de- 
velopment of the human race and by the established results of 
modern science. 

In the Life of the Family. It is a strange, sad fact that in 
the average modern family this social leaven has not yet per- 
meated deeply. The wreckage of thousands of homes through 
divorce and the breakdown of family life must be frankly reck- 



336 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

oned among the major tragedies of the present day. This ap- 
palling condition is certainly not because the principles of the 
great social prophets are here deficient or ineffective. It is 
simply because in the turmoil and rush of modern life their 
practical teachings have not been appreciated and thoroughly 
applied in the home. 

There are, however, many families to-day which demonstrate 
conclusively what a home may become whenever the golden 
rule of unselfish love is regnant. Consideration for the personal 
welfare and interests of those who serve in a more menial role 
is beginning to transform the architecture and the atmosphere 
of many homes. When once the Christian principles of democ- 
racy and good will govern all the intimate and potential re- 
lationships of the family, a stable foundation will at last be laid 
on which to rear a perfect and enduring social order. 

In the Business World. This century has already witnessed 
a far-reaching though silent revolution in the business world. 
Much of the bitterness of the conflicts that characterised the 
older, brutal competitive industrialism still remains. There 
are sinister suggestions that, unless stronger forces prevent, a 
mighty struggle between labour and capital impends, for both 
are organised as never before. The employer who does not 
hesitate to exploit his employees has not yet entirely disappeared. 
In many quarters organised labour is arrogant and the victim 
of self-seeking leaders. But now both the predatory captain 
of industry and the predatory labour-union are recognised as 
traitorous foes of the commonwealth. At last they are be- 
ginning to be held in leash by educated public opinion and defi- 
nite laws. Loyalty to the social order promises to complete 
their voluntary subjugation. 

Higher ideals are now winning a prominent place in the com- 
mercial world, and they are essentially the ideals of the prophets 
and Jesus. A new definition of a successful business man is 
rapidly gaining currency: 

One who gives every man and class with whom he comes into 
business relations an opportunity to succeed. 



THE BUSINESS WORLD 337 

This new ideal is well expressed in the creed recently adopted 
by the Advertising Clubs of America: 

I recognise the fact that the first requisite in success is not to 
achieve the dollar but to confer a benefit; and the reward will 
come automatically and as a matter of course. 

One of the leading international associations of business men 
has adopted as its fundamental rule of business conduct this 
concise, practical paraphrase of Jesus' teaching (Mk. 10 44 ) : 

He profits most who serves best. 

The code of this same association also sets forth as its ideals: 
ambition to elevate one's fellow men, scorn of illegitimate suc- 
cess, and appreciation of friends as the greatest of assets. 

The modern investor is beginning to ask not only whether 
his investments will pay good dividends, but also whether or 
not the corporations in which he invests are furthering or re- 
tarding social progress. Indeed, it is safe to say that the policies 
of a majority of the great corporations are to-day ruled by the 
broad Christian principle that the interests of employer and 
employee are identical. Millions of dollars are being annually 
expended by these corporations to insure better housing and 
living conditions, proper sanitation, education, and recreation 
for their employees. Workmen's compensation, child-labour, 
and factory laws are found on the statute books of all civilised 
nations. Profit-sharing and intelligent co-operation are al- 
ready taking the place of exploitation and class antagonism. 

More significant still, the great leaders of industry are be- 
ginning to see clearly that the only way to establish a better 
understanding between capital and labour and to wipe out class 
feuds is a clear appreciation and a frank acceptance of the social 
principles proclaimed by the Hebrew and Christian prophets. 
Acting on these convictions, industrial leaders are making a wide- 
spread and organised effort to instil these fundamental prin- 
ciples of living into the minds of both employers and employees. 
The effective industrial service work that is being carried on 



338 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

by the Young Men's Christian Association now has the generous 
financial support of thousands of the leading business corpora- 
tions. Its non-sectarian character and its emphasis on the 
practical application of the social principles of Judaism and 
Christianity appeal to men of the widest variety of beliefs. 
Under its direction the foreigner is Americanised, the ignorant 
employee is given a practical education, and the manual la- 
bourer and his family are taught not only how to live, but also 
how to become social citizens. Through all these many channels 
industry is gradually being Christianised in reality if not in 
name. 

In the light of the present progress it is not difficult to pic- 
ture a society in which each man is a faithful steward of whatever 
wealth or [ability to do the world's work he may possess; to 
conceive of an economic order in which each will administer 
whatever he holds joyfully and efficiently for the welfare of all; 
to imagine a real world in which every enlightened man will be 
more intent upon storing up wealth in heaven than on earth. 

In the Christian Church. Principles to be effective must 
take form in definite organisations ; but no one organisation can 
fully exemplify and apply a large body of principles. That the 
Christian church during the past eighteen centuries has not 
fully achieved its divine task none will deny. Whether or not 
it will do so in the new era just opening is the question of chief 
concern. Certainly a Christendom divided into competitive 
and contending groups never will. The time has arrived to 
undo the mistakes of a half -pagan past. Has the Christian 
church enough of the harmonising spirit of Jesus and Paul to 
rise above the petty differences that in the past have rent it 
asunder and paralysed its efficiency at the very moments when 
it might have performed its greatest service to humanity ? One 
important branch of the church is still committed to imperial- 
ism. Protestant Christianity is the natural herald of democ- 
racy. Will it now with undivided front take the lead in estab- 
lishing that world-embracing Christian unity which is essential 
to the complete and permanent union of the human race. 
Religion touches all sides of human life. If the church is to 



TN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 339 

perform its mission to-day it must likewise be all things to all 
men. 

Notwithstanding the handicap of sectarianism, the Chris- 
tian church is beginning to gird itself for that larger mission. 
The world-wide missionary movement is a concrete dramatisa- 
tion of Jesus' social teachings which mankind as a whole can 
understand and appreciate. Wherever the true missionary 
goes he addresses himself alike to men's social and spiritual 
needs. The same missionary spirit is leading the progressive 
churches of Christendom to study and to seek to solve the moral, 
industrial, and social problems that lie at their doors. Where 
they are still inert, civic, social, and other organisations, equally 
inspired by the ideals of the prophets and Jesus, are doing this 
work. It is deeply significant that to-day, wherever the church 
fails to express adequately the spirit of Christianity, the social 
gospel finds other channels through which to flow. 

Next to the church and supplementing it at every point is the 
International Young Men's Christian Association movement. 
It stands not merely in theory but in fact for a united Chris- 
tendom. It aims, like primitive Christianity, to minister to 
all the normal needs of the young man and woman and to 
train them so that they may become dynamic social citizens. 
Already it has shown remarkable aptitude in adjusting itself to 
the most diverse conditions. Its spirit of co-operation is irre- 
sistible. In many ways it is outdistancing the church in its 
outreach to these classes and in meeting all their needs. 

The present generation under the leadership of Jesus has re- 
discovered the child and youth. The church through its church 
schools and clubs, and society through multiple organisations 
for boys and girls are seeking by action as well as by precept to 
instil into the minds of childhood and youth the great ethical 
and social ideals of the prophets and Jesus and to develop well- 
rounded Christian manhood and womanhood. Powerful na- 
tion-wide campaigns against alcohol and vice are creating the 
necessary environment in which to rear the type of Christian 
citizen that must be bred if the social ideals of the Second Isaiah 
and Jesus and Paul are ever to be realised. If these many 



340 TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS 

powerful organisations which express the awakened social con- 
sciousness of the modern age be reinforced by the loyal devotion 
and unfaltering self-sacrifice of each individual, the complete 
inauguration of the kingdom of God is not far distant. 

In National and International Relations. Bernard Shaw, 
the cynic Socialist and one of organised Christianity's severest 
modern critics, has said: 

I am ready to admit, after contemplating the world of human 
nature for nearly sixty years, I see no way out of the world's 
misery but the way which would have been found by Christ's will 
if he had undertaken the work of a modern practical statesman. 

Christ's will is still potent in the world, even though it has 
been thwarted at many great crises in the life of humanity. 
When the Creator of the universe gave freedom to men he 
ceased to be omnipotent. With mankind he shared the divinely 
difficult task of bringing to complete fruition his manifest pur- 
pose to develop a perfect manhood and a perfect society. Na- 
tions, like men, either work for or against the realisation of that 
purpose. Their combined might is second only to that of the 
Infinite himself. 

The eternal principles of justice and truth and loyalty, how- 
ever, abide. The laws of love and service are as true and ap- 
plicable to-day as at the beginning of history. Nations simply 
represent aggregations of individual interests and responsibil- 
ities. They are subject to the same moral laws as the individuals 
who compose them. The prophets and Jesus taught the brother- 
hood of nations as well as the brotherhood of men. Most of 
the fatal mistakes of the past have been because nations and the 
statesmen who direct their policies have failed to recognise 
these fundamental facts. As a result countless falsehoods and 
acts of injustice have been perpetrated in the names of Chris- 
tian nations. Under the guise of that type of international 
duplicity which is slanderously called diplomacy, the rights of 
the weak and the responsibilities of the strong have been ruth- 
lessly ignored. Viewed in the clear light of the principles set 



NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 341 

forth by the prophets and Jesus, international problems are 
fully as simple as those of the individual. Satisfactory and 
final solution will speedily be found when it is the will of the 
nations that these principles be unfalteringly applied. 

Economists are inclined to accept as thus far valid the law 
that as soon as the economic surplus of human production 
reaches a certain level it is dissipated by war. The prophets 
and Jesus alone of all the world's teachers have proposed a way 
of living that is practicable for nations as well as for men. 
Loyalty to the demands of justice, equality, brotherhood, good 
will, and an unswerving purpose to guard the highest interests 
of every human being make it possible for most individuals to 
live together to-day in peace and comity. The same principles 
and these alone applied to nations will break this seemingly 
inevitable economic law and permanently conserve the finest 
cumulative products of human civilisation. If the mighty 
movements which embody these principles continue to gain mo- 
mentum and increased support in all the great nations of the 
earth, the bloodiest century in human history may yet witness 
as its supreme achievement the establishment of the new and 
perfect social order for which Jesus and the world's greatest 
prophets gave their life-blood. 



APPENDIX 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 

GENERAL SOCIOLOGY 

Blackmar, F. W., Elements of Sociology, 1915. 
Blackmar and Gillin, Outlines of Sociology, 1915. 
Carver, T. N., Sociology and Social Progress, 1905. 
Cooley, C. H., Human Nature and the Social Order, 1902. 
Dealey, J., Textbook of Sociology, 1905. 
Giddings, F. H., The Elements of Sociology, 1898. 

, The Principles of Sociology, 1899. 

Keller, A. G., Societal Evolution, 1915. 

Kidd, Benjamin, Social Evolution, 1898. 

Ross, E. A., Social Psychology, 1908. 

Rowe, H. K., Society, Its Origin and Development, 1916. 

Small, A. W., General Sociology, 1905. 

, The Meaning of Social Science, 1910. 

Spencer, Herbert, Descriptive Sociology, Pt. 2, 1885. 

, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, 1876. 

Ward, L. F., Pure Sociology, 1914. 

APPLIED SOCIOLOGY 

Addams, Jane, Democracy and Social Ethics, 1902. 

, Twenty Years in Hull House, 1911. 

Bailey, W. B., Modern Social Conditions, 1914. 
Conyngton, Mary, How to Help, 1906. 
Cooley, C. H., Social Organization, 1913. 
Devine, E. T., Misery and Its Causes, 1913. 

, The Practice of Charity, 1904. 

, Principles of Relief, 1910. 

Edwards, R. H., Popular Amusements, 1915. 
Fairchild, H. P., Outlines of Applied Sociology, 1916. 
Flexner, S., Juvenile Courts and Probation, 1914. 

343 



344 APPENDIX 

Folks, Homer, The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Chil- 
dren, 1902. 
Henderson, C. R., Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes, 1912. 
Hunter, Robert, Poverty, 1912. 

Jenks, J. W., Governmental Action for Social Welfare, 1910. 
Lee, Joseph, Constructive and Preventive Sociology, 1902. 
Mangold, G. B., Problems of Child Welfare, 1914. 
Patten, S. M., The New Basis of Civilization, 1907. 
Richardson and Loomis, The Boy Scout Movement, 1916. 
Richmond, M. E., Friendly Visiting Among the Poor, 1899. 
Ross, E. A., Sin and Society, 1907. 
Seager, H. R., Social Insurance, 1910. 
Smith, S. G., Social Pathology, 1911. 
Tarde, Gabriel, The Laws of Imitation, 1903. 
Veblen, Thornstein, Theory of the Leisure Class, 1912. 
Wald, Lillian, The House in Henry Street, 1916. 
Ward, Lester F., Applied Sociology, 1906. 
Ward, E. S., The Social Center, 1914. 
Warner, A. G., American Charities, 1908. 

SOCIALISM 

Cross, I. B., The Essentials of Socialism, 1910. 

Hillquit, Morris, Socialism in Theory and Practice, 1909. 

Hunter, Robert, Socialism at Work, 1908. 

Melvin, F. J., Socialism and tJw Sociological Ideal, 1915. 

Russell, Charles E., Why I Am a Socialist, 1910. 

Sellars, R. W., The Next Step in Democracy, 1916. 

Spargo, John, The Spiritual Significance of Modern Socialism, 1908. 

Spargo and Arner, Elements of Socialism, 1912. 

Stoddart, J. T., The New Socialism, 1909. 

Walling, W. E., The Larger Aspects of Socialism, 1913. 

, Socialism as It Is, 1914. 

BIBLICAL SOCIOLOGY 

Barton, G. A., A Sketch of Semitic Origins: Social and Religious, 1902. 

Buhl, Frantz, Die Socialen Verhaltnisse der Israeliten, 1899. 

Cornill, C. H., The Culture of Ancient Israel, 1914. 

Day, Edward, The Social Life of the Hebrews, 1901. 

Edersheim, Alfred, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, 1876. 

Fenton, John, Early Hebrew Life : A Study in Sociology, 1888. 

Grant, Elihu, The Peasantry of Palestine, 1907. 



APPENDIX 345 

Schaeffer, Henry, Social Legislation of the Ancient Semites, 1915. 

Schenck, F. S., The Sociology of the Bible, 1909. 

Smith, W. R., Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 1903. 

, Religion of the Semites, 1894. 

Soares, T. G., The Social Institutions and Ideals of the Bible, 1915. 
Tristram, H. B., Eastern Customs in Bible Lands, 1894. 
Wallis, Louis, Sociological Study of the Bible, 1912. 
Wilson, C. T., Peasant Life in Palestine, 1906. 

WRITINGS AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS OF THE PROPHETS AND SAGES 

Bade, W. F., The Old Testament in the Light of To-day, 1915. 
Chamberlain, G. L., The Hebrew Prophets, 1912. 

Charles, R. H., Historical Development between the Old and New Testa- 
ments, 1911. 

, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, 1913. 

Cornill, C. H., History of Israel, 1902. 

, The Prophets of Israel, 1905. 

Davison, W. T., The Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, 1895. 
Driver, S. R., Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, 1901. 
Gray, G. H., A Critical Introduction to the Old Testament, 1913. 
Harper, W. R., Commentary on Amos and Hosea, 1905. 
Hastings, James, Dictionary of the Bible, Vols. I-V, 1902. 
Kent, C. F., The Historical Bible, Vols. I-V, 1916. 

, Student's Old Testament, Vols. I-IV, 1916. 

Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets, 1892. 
McFadyen, J. F., Introduction to the Old Testament, 1909. 
Mitchell, H. G., Ethics of the Old Testament, 1907. 
Sanders, F. K., History of the Hebrews, 1915. 
Sanders and Kent, The Messages of the Earlier Prophets, 1898. 

, The Messages of the Later Prophets, 1899. 

Smith, George Adam, The Book of Isaiah, Vols. I, II, 1900. 

, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, Vols. I, II, 1898-99. 

Smith, Henry P., Old Testament History, 1903. 

Smith, John M. P., The Prophet and His Problems, 1914. 

Willett, H. L., The Moral Leaders of Israel, 1912. 

THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS, PRIESTS, AND SAGES 

Bizzell, W. B., The Social Teachings of the Jewish Prophets, 1916. 
Brown, C. R., The Social Message of the Modern Pulpit, 1906. 
Jordan, W. G., Prophetic Ideas and Ideals, 1902. 



346 APPENDIX 

Keeble, S. E., and others, Social Teachings of the Bible, 1910. 
Kent and Jenks, The Making of a Nation, 1914. 

, The Testing of a Nation's Ideals, 1915. 

Root, E. T., The Profit of the Many, 1899. 

Willett, H. L., The Religious and Social Ideals of Israel, 1915. 

RECORDS AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE WORK OF JESUS AND 

THE APOSTLES 

Angus, S., The Environment of Early Christianity, 1915. 

Bacon, B. W., Introduction to the New Testament, 1900. 

Case, S. J., The Evolution of Early Christianity, 1914. 

Deissmann, A., St. Paul — A Study in Social and Religious History, 1912. 

, Light from the Ancient East, 1910. 

Gilbert, G. H., Jesus, 1912. 

Harnack, Adolf, Acts of the Apostles (N. T. Studies, III), 1909. 
Jiilicher, Adolf, An Introduction to the New Testament, 1904. 
Kent, C. F., Historical Bible, Vols. V, VI, 1916. 

, Biblical Geography and History, 1911. 

Mathews, Shailer, The History of New Testament Times, 1910. 
Moffatt, James, Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament, 1911. 
Riggs, J. S., History of the Jewish People, 1900. 
Schiirer, Emil, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus 

Christ, Vols. I-V, 1890. 
Smith, George A., Historical Geography of the Holy Land, New York, 

1902; London, 1908. 
Torrey, C. C, Composition and Date of Acts, 1916. 
Ramsay, W. M., St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 1896. 

THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES 

Bruce, A. B., The Kingdom of God, 1889. 

Candlish, J. S., The Kingdom of God, 1884. 

Chadwick, W. E., The Social Teachings of St. Paul, 1908. 

Clarke, W. N, The Ideal of Jesus, 1911. 

Dobschiitz, Ernst, Christian Life in the Primitive Church, 1904. 

Jenks, J. W., Political and Social Significance of the Life and Teachings 

of Jesus, 1906. 
Mathews, Shailer, The Social and Ethical Teachings of Jesus, 1908. 
Peabody, Francis G., Jesus Christ and the Social Question, 1900. 
Rauschenbusch, Walter, Christianity and the Social Crisis, 1913. 

, The Social Principles of Jesus, 1916. 

Speer, Robert E., The Principles of Jesus, 1902. 



APPENDIX 347 

Stead, F. H., The Kingdom of God, 1894. 

Stevens, G. B., The Teaching of Jesus, 1909. 

Strong, Josiah, Studies in the Gospel of the Kingdom, Series 1, 1910. 

Troeltsch, Hermann, Die Sociallehren der Christlichen Kirchen, Vol. I, 

1912. 
Vedder, H. C, Socialism and the Ethics of Jesus, 1915. 
Weinel, Heinrich, St. Paul — The Man and His Work, 1906. 
Weizacher, Carl, The Apostolic Age, Vols. I, II, 1895. 
White, Bouck, The Call of the Carpenter, 1913. 
Wrede, W., Paul, 1908. 

THE APPLICATION OF THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND 

JESUS 

Batten, S. Z., The Social Task of Christianity, 1911. 

Calkins, H. R., A Man and His Money, 1914. 

Crooker, Joseph, The Church of To-day, 1908. 

Cunningham, William, Christianity and Social Questions, 1910. 

Dobschiitz, Ernst, The Influence of the Bible on Civilization, 1914. 

Gladden, W., The Church and Modern Life, 1908. 

Hall, C. C, Christ and the Human Race, 1906. 

Hall, T. C, Social Solutions in the Light of Christian Ethics, 1910. 

Harnack and Hermann, The Social Gospel, 1907. 

Harnack, Adolf, The Constitution and Law of the Church in the First 

Two Centuries, 1910. 

, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity, Vols. I, II, 1909. 

Hatch, Edwin, Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 1909. 

Horton, R. F., The Bible as a Missionary Book, 1905. 

Lynch, Frederick, The Challenge of the Church and the New World Order , 

1917. 
Mathews, Shailer, The Individual and the Social Gospel, 1914. 

, The Development of the Christian Religion, 1916. 

McConnell, R. Madding, The Duty of Altruism, 1910. 
Peabody, Francis, The Approach to the Social Question, 1909. 

, The Christian Life in the Modern World, 1914. 

Rauschenbusch, Walter, Christianizing the Social Order, 1912. 

, For God and the People; Prayers of tlie Social Awakening, 1910. 

Strayer, P. M., The Reconstruction of the Church, 1915. 
Tippy, W. M., The Church a Community Force, 1914. 
Tyler, J. M., The Place of the Church in Evolution, 1914. 
Ward, H. F., The Social Creed of the Churches, 1914. 
Ward, L. F., The Bible and Social Living, 1916. 



348 APPENDIX 

II 

SUBJECTS FOR DISCUSSION AND INVESTIGATION 

The aim in these outlines is to guide the individual student and 
classes in churches, colleges, and theological seminaries to a clear per- 
sonal appreciation of the vital principles proclaimed by Hebrew and 
Christian prophets and sages. The text of these chapters as a rule 
furnishes the data necessary for an intelligent discussion of the corre- 
sponding questions. In each case the purpose of the question is to 
stimulate independent thinking and to precipitate personal convictions 
which will lead to the practical application of these principles to the 
political, economic, and social problems presented by our modern civili- 
sation. The classified index which follows also furnishes the basis for 
a topical as well as historical study of the teachings of the prophets and 
Jesus. It is suggested that students in college and seminary classes will 
find it exceedingly profitable in connection with each chapter to for- 
mulate on a classified card index the new social principles presented by 
each succeeding prophet. If these are tabulated in accordance with 
the scheme of the classified index (p. 361), they can be easily arranged 
at the end of the work so that the social teachings of the Bible on each 
subject may be readily determined in the order of their historical de- 
velopment. 

Part I 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE PRE-EXILIC PROPHETS 

I. Moses' Assertion of the Rights of the Industrially Oppressed. 
1. In what respects were the beginnings of Israel's national life abso- 
lutely unique ? 2. Compare the early experiences of the Israelites with 
those of our Puritan forefathers. 3. Why was the rule of Ramses II 
the most crushing despotism recorded in human history? Cite later 
parallels. 4. Describe the experiences and influences that made Moses 
a prophet. 5. Describe his methods in dealing with the industrial 
crisis in Egypt. 6. How far are they practicable in dealing with 
modern industrial problems? 7. Compare the character and work of 
Moses and of Abraham Lincoln. 8. What important economic prin- 
ciples were established at the beginnings of Hebrew history? 9. In 
what respects did the Hebrew conception of the character of Jehovah 
differ from that of contemporary peoples? 



APPENDIX 349 

II. The Democratic Principles for Which Ahijah and Elijah Con- 
tended. 1. Compare the social ideals which the Hebrews possessed 
when they entered Canaan with those of the Puritans when they set- 
tled in New England. 2. What important political and social trans- 
formations resulted from the settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan? 
3. Contrast the Hebrew and Canaanite (1) political, (2) economic, 
(3) moral, and (4) religious ideals and institutions. Cf. Wallis, Socio- 
logical Study of the Bible, pp. 114-116. 4. Trace the history of the 
conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite political ideals during the 
period which began with the election of Gideon and ended with the 
death of Ahab. 5. What principles regarding the respective duties 
and rights of rulers and citizens were established during these three 
centuries? 6. How far was Solomon's system of taxation justifiable 
and how far unjustifiable ? 7. Formulate in the light of this study the 
underlying principles that should govern all taxation. 8. Which was 
more democratic, the ancient Hebrew or the modern American com- 
monwealth? Why? 9. What two modern nations best typify the 
Hebrew and the Canaanite theories of the state? 

III. The Social Teachings of the Early Prophetic Story-Tellers. 

1. What were the outstanding characteristics of a Hebrew prophet? 

2. In what different ways did the prophets present their teachings? 

3. Why are apt stories especially impressive in teaching social and 
moral truths? 4. What do the prophetic accounts of the creation 
(Gen. 2) and the priestly (Gen. 1) teach regarding man's place and re- 
sponsibilities in the universe ? 5. How far are the assertions regarding 
the foundation and sanctity of the marriage relation in Genesis 2 con- 
firmed by modern science? 6. What is sin, and why is it always un- 
social in its effect? 7. How is a criminal developed, and what three 
possible methods of dealing with him are suggested in the story of Cain ? 
8. In what ways do national calamities like the flood often contribute 
to the progress of the human race ? 9. In what respects does Abraham 
(as portrayed in the early prophetic narratives) embody the ideals of a 
perfect social citizen? 10. Contrast the social development of Cain 
and Jacob. 11. What qualities in Joseph qualify him to win success 
in any age or civilisation? 

IV. Amos's Interpretation of the Responsibilities of the Rich and 
Ruling Classes. 1. Compare the social and economic transformations 
in Northern Israel during the half-century preceding Amos and in the 
United States during the half-century following the Civil War. 2. De- 
scribe Amos's personal character and the influences that had moulded 
him. 3. Define his aims and the different ways in which he sought to 



350 APPENDIX 

impress his teachings on the Northern Israelites. Cf. Amos 7, 8. 
4. How did he define the duties of rulers and judges? 5. The re- 
sponsibilities of the rich ? 6. In what ways did he proclaim the brother- 
hood of man and its obligations? 7. Compare Amos's character and 
teachings with those of the modern Socialist. 8. What did Amos con- 
tribute to the social ideals of humanity? 

V. Hosea's Analysis of the Forces Which Destroy and Upbuild 
Society. 1. Compare the personal characteristics of Amos and Hosea. 

2. What fundamental religious and social principles were made clear 
to Hosea through his tragic experiences with his unfaithful wife? 

3. What new standard of marital obligation did he establish, and how 
far is it practicable to-day? 4. Why is social immorality more per- 
nicious in its effects upon society than any other crime? 5. What 
moral qualities, according to Hosea, are essential to upright character 
and action? 6. What is the social significance of Hosea's picture of 
the divine Lover? 7. What did Hosea contribute to our ideal of the 
socialised individual? 8. In what respects was Hosea the greatest of 
the pre-exilic prophets? 9. Compare the personality and message of 
Hosea and our modern poet Browning. 

VI. The Social Ideals of the Statesman Isaiah. 1. Compare the 
development of social conditions in Judah and in Northern Israel be- 
tween 780 and 740 B.C. 2. Trace the experiences and influences which 
led Isaiah to take up the work of a prophet. 3. To what extent are the 
political and judicial crimes which Isaiah denounced found in modern 
society? 4. Is the principle which Isaiah laid down regarding land 
monopoly applicable to all natural resources? 5. On what grounds 
did Isaiah condemn intemperance and debauchery? 6. What was 
Isaiah's attitude during the different political crises through which 
Judah passed during his lifetime, and what was the basis of his con- 
victions? 7. What did Isaiah teach regarding the rule or kingdom of 
God ? 8. Compare the character and work of Isaiah with those of the 
great Athenian orator and patriot Demosthenes. 

VII. Micah the Tribune of the Common People. 1. In what ways 
did Micah's birthplace and occupation determine the content of his 
teaching ? 2. Compare his charges against the ruling classes with those 
made by Isaiah. 3. How far does Micah's interpretation of the point 
of view and methods of the rich in Judah apply to the same class in 
England and America to-day? 4. Explain how a large body of false 
prophets had sprung up in Israel (cf. I Kgs. 22) and in Judah, and why 
they were a great political and social menace. 5. Does Micah's ar- 
raignment of the false prophets of his day apply in any sense to certain 



APPENDIX 351 

of the leaders of the Christian church to-day, and if so, in what respects ? 
6. What was the practical effect of Micah's addresses? 7. Why did 
Micah arouse the popular conscience even more than Isaiah? Cite 
modern analogies. 8. How would you define religion? Does Micah 
6 8 contain an adequate definition ? If not, what elements are lacking ? 

VIII. The Social Reformers of the Seventh Century. 1. What 
was the nature and effect of the wars that Assyria waged against the 
people of southwestern Asia ? 2. Compare with the nature and effects 
of the Napoleonic War and the Great War. 3. On what grounds did 
Nahum condemn war? 4. What are the causes of a moral and re- 
ligious reaction as illustrated by that in the reign of Manasseh ? 5. Com- 
pare the inheritance and personality of Zephaniah and Jeremiah. 

6. What political crisis led them to utter their earlier prophecies? 

7. What charges did they bring against the rulers of Judah ? 8. How 
far is their analysis of the peculiar perils which assailed the wealthy 
classes still true? 9. Were Zephaniah and Jeremiah pessimists and 
calamity howlers or loyal patriots? Give the reasons for your con- 
clusion. 10. Compare the ancient Hebrew and the modern methods 
of promulgating laws. 

IX. The Social Principles Embodied in the Prophetic Code of Deu- 
teronomy. 1. In what way did the Deuteronomic lawgivers contrib- 
ute to the improvement of the status of woman? 2. How far did 
they depart from ancient customs in placing definite responsibilities 
upon parents? 3. What motives did they urge in order to compel 
children to obey and honour their parents ? 4. How did the Deutero- 
nomic lawgivers seek to restrict slavery? 5. Which possessed greater 
authority and why: a Hebrew king governed by the law of Deuteron- 
omy or a president of the United States or of the French republic? 
6. Compare the ideals held up before judges and witnesses in the Deu- 
teronomic law and those established by public opinion in Christian 
lands to-day. 7. How far and in what ways are the principles under- 
lying the economic and labour laws in Deuteronomy applicable in mod- 
ern society? 8. Indicate the different ways by which the Deutero- 
nomic lawgivers endeavoured to prevent and alleviate poverty. 9. For- 
mulate the motives which, according to Deuteronomy, should inspire 
the socialised individual. 



352 APPENDIX 



Part II 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE EXILIC AND POST-EXILIC PROPHETS 

AND SAGES 

X. Israel's Mature Political Ideals. 1. What changes did the de- 
struction of the Hebrew state in 586 B.C. effect in the point of view of 
the Jews who survived ? 2. What is the derivation and meaning of the 
word messianic? 3. Are the messianic prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment predictions to be divinely fulfilled, or are they social goals to be 
attained by the combined efforts of God and man ? 4. What political 
ideals are set forth in Psalm 72 ? 5. In Isaiah 9 2-7 ? 6. Is the portrait 
of a just and benign ruler in Isaiah ll 1-10 too ideal to be practically 
realised in human history? Give the reasons for your conclusion. 
7. What rulers in Israel's history realised most fully the ideals set forth 
in Psalm 101 ? 8. In modern history ? 9. On the basis of these pas- 
sages formulate the decalogue which should govern men occupying 
public office. 

XI. The Growth of Israel's Missionary Attitude toward All Na- 
tions. 1. Why of all the ancient peoples did the Hebrews alone 
develop a missionary attitude toward their heathen neighbours? 
2. Trace the ever-increasing rights and privileges granted to resident 
aliens in the successive Hebrew codes. 3. Why were the Jews of 
Palestine, in the days following the destruction of Jerusalem, in their 
attitude toward foreigners more liberal than the Jews in exile? 
4. What essentials in a practical world-peace programme are stressed 
in Micah 4 1-4 ? 5. What did the author of Isaiah 40-66 contribute to 
Israel's missionary ideal? 6. What is the broadest statement of this 
ideal in the Old Testament? 7. Why did the later Jewish prophets 
and psalmists believe that "all the families of the nations will worship 
in Jehovah's presence"? 8. What was the aim of the author of the 
story of Jonah, and how did he realise his aim ? 9. How did Judaism 
in the centuries immediately before and after the beginning of the 
Christian era become an active missionary force ? 

XII. Second Isaiah's Ideal of Social Service. 1. What conditions 
and what aims inspired the author of Isaiah 40-66 to write his im- 
mortal songs? 2. How did his interpretation of Israel's destiny differ 
from the popular expectations of his fellow countrymen? 3. Are the 
servant passages in Isaiah 42-53 detailed predictions? If not, what 
are they ? 4. What are the distinctive characteristics of the servant of 
Jehovah as portrayed by the Second Isaiah ? 5. How does the train- 



APPENDIX 353 

ing of Jehovah's servant differ, for example, from that of Jesus' dis- 
ciples? 6. What were the definite services which the Second Isaiah 
hoped would be performed by the servant of Jehovah? 7. Are these 
defined in terms of the conditions and needs which then confronted the 
prophet? 8. What are the methods by which the servant's work is 
to be accomplished ? 9. What light do these prophecies shed upon the 
value of the suffering of the righteous if patiently borne in behalf of a 
worthy cause? 10. How and by whom has the prophet's ideal of the 
suffering servant been most fully realised in human history ? To-day ? 
11. Compare the formulation of the essentials of religion in Isaiah 
5gi-io ^th that which then prevailed in Judaism. With that which 
prevails in different parts of the Christian church to-day. 

XIII. The Social Teachings of the Wise. 1. Compare the aims 
and methods of the wise with those of the modern religious teacher. 
2. How far does their ideal of a good wife conform to that of the mod- 
ern man? Of the modern woman? 3. How far did the wise antici- 
pate our present conception of the duties of parents ? 4. What reasons 
for filial obedience and loyalty did the wise add to those already set 
forth by the Deuteronomic lawgivers ? 5. Write a brief sketch of the 
typical ruler who embodies the political ideals of the wise. 6. Was the 
counsel of the wise regarding suretyship cruel and selfish ? 7. Formu- 
late in your own words the philosophy of wealth set forth by the wise 
and consider how far it is complete and practical for the modern man. 
8. Is their ideal of the golden mean between poverty and wealth prac- 
tical and valid in all ages? 9. If generally accepted, how would it 
affect the welfare and progress of human society? 

XIV. The Good Neighbour and Citizen According to the Wise. 
1. What social crimes did the wise regard as especially pernicious, and 
why? 2. According to their judgment, what are the qualities which 
mark a good neighbour? 3. Which set up the higher standard of citi- 
zenship, the proverb writers or the psalmists? 4. What standard of 
piety was in the mind of the author of the prose story of Job (Job 
1,2)? 5. What is the point of view of the writer of the poem of Job 
(Job 3-31), priestly or prophetic? 6. What personal qualities did the 
author of the poem of Job deem absolutely essential to good citizen- 
ship? 7. What was Job's attitude toward existing social evils? 
8. Through what acts of service did his enlightened social conscious- 
ness find expression ? 9. With what modern social movements would 
Job be identified if he lived in America to-day? 10. Are there men 
and women now living who embody the ideals of social citizenship set 
forth in the poem of Job ? Cite specific illustrations. 



354 APPENDIX 

XV. The Social Philosophy of Hillel and John the Baptist. 1. Why 
did the Maccabean struggle largely drive from the mind of the Jews 
the social ideals of their early prophets and sages? 2. Compare the 
character, aims, and beliefs of the Pharisees, of the Sadducees, and of 
the Essenes. Cf . Kent, Historical Bible, IV : Makers and Teachers of Ju- 
daism, 247-254. 3. In what respects did Hillel resemble the early 
social prophets of his race ? 4. How far did his teachings anticipate 
those of Jesus ? 5. With the aid of historical facts, write an imaginary 
sketch of the youth and development of John the Baptist in the days 
preceding his public ministry. 6. What did John aim to accomplish 
by his public activity? 7. Formulate in your own words the social 
principle which he proclaimed. 8. What led him to believe and teach 
that a new social era was about to begin? 9. In what sense was he 
the forerunner of Jesus ? 



Part III 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS 

XVI. Jesus* Approach to the Social Problem. 1. In what ways 
did Jesus' youthful experiences prepare him for his work as a social 
teacher? 2. What proofs are there that he was deeply interested in 
social questions? 3. What was the chief aim of each of the four gospel 
writers, and how far was each interested in social problems ? 4. If we 
did not have Luke's gospel, what would we know about Jesus' interest 
in social questions? 5. Compare the social conditions in Jesus' day 
with those of the present. 6. Did Jesus test by personal experience 
all the social principles which he proclaimed? Give your reasons. 
7. Compare the relation between his teachings and personal experience 
and that of earlier prophets like Amos and Hosea. 8. What was the 
relation in his mind between religion and social service? 9. Can re- 
ligion and social service ever be dissevered without irreparable loss to 
both? Illustrate. 10. What was Jesus' ultimate test of religious 
character and life? 11. How far is this standard adopted and enforced 
in the different divisions of the Christian church? 

XVII. Jesus' Aims and Methods as a Social Teacher. 1. What 
different social programmes were being advocated in the Palestine of 
Jesus' day ? 2. What light does the story of Jesus' temptation throw 
on his conception of his social mission and the way in which it should 
be accomplished? 3. In what respects did Capernaum offer greater 
opportunities for a broad and representative social work than did 



APPENDIX 355 

Nazareth ? 4. What methods did Jesus use at Capernaum in carrying 
through his social plan ? 5. To what classes did he appeal ? 6. What 
did he mean by "saving the lost" ? 7. What did he demand of his fol- 
lowers, and by what means did he seek to train them? 8. What were 
his ultimate aims in endeavouring to build up a brotherhood in Caper- 
naum? 9. Compare his aims and methods with those of the modern 
settlement-house worker. 10. How far did Jesus succeed during his 
lifetime in carrying out his social plan? 

XVIII. The Characteristics of the Christian Citizen. 1. Why did 
Jesus regard every human being, however weak he might be physically, 
mentally, or morally, with superlative respect and consideration ? 2. In 
what ways did he give to his followers larger life and liberty? 3. What 
did he teach was the relation between individual liberty and responsi- 
bility? 4. How is it that the acceptance of Jesus' philosophy of liv- 
ing often enables "the weak to confound the mighty"? 5. How did 
Jesus seek to deter men from committing murder and kindred acts of 
violence? 6. From committing adultery and similar immoral acts? 
7. Why did he teach that sincerity, charitable judgment, and forgive- 
ness were the fundamental social virtues? 8. How is it that love in- 
spires all other social virtues? 9. In what respects has Tolstoi misin- 
terpreted Jesus' law of love ? 10. How do you reconcile Jesus' teaching 
regarding non-resistance with his public activity during his last week at 
Jerusalem? 11. Retell the story of the Good Samaritan in terms of 
modern men and conditions. 

XIX. Jesus' Appreciation of the Social Values of Recreation and 
Popular Amusements. 1. Is the popular conception of Jesus' real 
character true or false, and why? 2. Collect from the gospel records 
the evidences of his sense of humour. 3. How do you explain the fact 
that they are preserved in a literature which grew up amidst bitter 
persecution and suffering? 4. What are the reasons why Jesus' life 
with his disciples was so joyous? 5. What evidences are there that 
Jesus thoroughly appreciated and commended all forms of wholesome 
amusement? 6. In what ways would Jesus seek to combat certain 
modern forms of commercialised amusement which are obviously harm- 
ful? 7. Compare the Pharisaic interpretation of the Sabbath with 
that of Jesus. 8. Why do the majority of our Protestant churches still 
incline toward the priestly and Pharisaic interpretation ? 9. How may 
we to-day use the Sabbath for man in keeping with the spirit of the 
teachings of the prophets and Jesus ? 10. Was Jesus justified in mak- 
ing the happiness of the individual and of society one of the chief goals 
of his work and teaching? Cf. Hilty, Happiness. 11. Formulate in 



356 APPENDIX 

your own words the attitude toward life which Jesus set forth in his 
first four beatitudes as an essential of happiness. 12. Also the attitude 
toward one's fellow men which he set forth in his remaining beatitudes. 
13. What would you say are the ten most important principles in Jesus' 
philosophy of living ? 

XX. Jesus* Economic Teachings. 1. What is wealth? 2. Why 
did Jesus devote so much attention to the problems connected with 
wealth ? 3. What evidence is there that he fully appreciated the value 
of wealth ? 4. What, according to Jesus, are the chief perils of wealth ? 
5. To which of these perils is the poor man especially exposed ? 6. Are 
these perils greater to-day than in the first Christian century? 7. Is 
the individual possession of large wealth necessarily harmful to the in- 
dividual and to society? Cite definite illustrations. 8. Is the pos- 
session of large wealth harmful to a nation and to human society as 
a whole? 9. Formulate the rules which should be followed in order 
faithfully to discharge the obligations of Christian stewardship of 
wealth. 10. What are some of the many practical ways in which wealth 
to-day may be stored up in heaven? 11. Should remuneration be 
based solely on the market value of labour, or also on the labourer's 
need and the spirit with which he works ? Give the reasons. 12. How 
can the obligations of society to those who are ready to work faithfully 
be justly and practically met? 13. How do you explain the slight 
emphasis which Jesus, in contrast to the Pharisees, placed on almsgiv- 
ing ? 14. By what practical methods did he seek to prevent poverty ? 
15. Picture in detail a society in which Jesus' economic principles are 
thoroughly applied. 

XXI. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Family. 1. Why did Jesus 
guard so zealously the integrity of the family? 2. What evidence is 
there that he strongly supported the institution of marriage? 3. Do 
his teachings regarding marriage apply simply to his followers or to all 
men ? 4. Was he intolerant and impracticable in his condemnation of 
divorce with a view to remarriage? 5. Have conditions changed so 
that his teachings on this subject are no longer valid ? Give your rea- 
sons. 6. If universally applied, would they increase or lessen the 
happiness of the individual and of society, and why? 7. How can 
they be practically applied in an only partially christianised society? 
8. How far would Jesus' teaching regarding the duty of husbands to 
wives tend to remove the causes of divorce? 9. Formulate the prin- 
ciple that he laid down to guide children in doing their duty to their 
parents. 10. How have his teachings been effective in abolishing 
slavery ?.t 11. What practical contributions did he make to the satis- 



APPENDIX 357 

factory solution of the modern servant problem ? 12. Picture a home 
in which his teachings are fully accepted and applied. 

XXII. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the State. 1. Why did the 
conditions of Jesus' day tend to prevent his public discussion of 
political questions? 2. What justification is there in the statement 
that Jesus was the most thoroughgoing champion of democracy that 
the world has yet seen? 3. Compare his democracy with that of 
Plato. 4. WTiy did Jesus openly attack the high priests by cleansing 
the temple of the bazaars which they had established there? 5. Was 
his act hasty and rash, or was it deliberate and justified ? Give your 
reasons. 6. WTiat did Jesus mean by his command to render to Csesar 
the things that are Caesar's? 7. Why did the Pharisees bring the 
woman convicted of adultery before Jesus, and why did they silently 
slip away when he refused to condemn her? 8. What principles did 
he establish in his treatment of this typical case ? 9. How far is mod- 
ern society, through honour and parole systems, juvenile courts, and 
mutual welfare leagues, adopting and applying Jesus' methods of deal- 
ing with the delinquent and the criminal ? 10. How do you harmonise 
Jesus' attack upon the high priests and Pharisees with his refusal to 
use force in his own defense? 11. How far are nations under obliga- 
tion to apply in their international relations the same moral principles 
that men accept in private life? 12. Are our modern police systems 
and an international league to enforce peace in keeping with Jesus' 
teachings? Give your reasons. 13. Is war ever justifiable, and if so, 
under what conditions ? 14. What is Jesus' method of putting an end 
to war, and is it practicable ? 

XXIII. The Rule or Kingdom of God. 1. In what different 
senses was the term kingdom of God used by different classes in Jesus' 
day? 2. What evidence is there that he did not accept the popular 
apocalyptic interpretation of the term? 3. Why did he employ this 
variously interpreted term? 4. What did he mean when he used it? 
5. What did he declare must be the attitude of the man who would 
work effectively for the establishment of the rule or kingdom of God on 
earth? 6. Why do not the majority of men to-day "seek first the 
kingdom of God"? 7. How, according to Jesus, is the kingdom of 
God to be established on the basis of the existing social order? 
8. Consider definite classes and individuals that in your opinion are 
(1) hastening and (2) retarding the establishment of the kingdom of 
God. 9. What definite steps did Jesus take to institute this new social 
order ? 10. How far was he successful during his lifetime ? 11. How far 
is his plan for transforming society practicable unaer modern conditions ? 



358/ APPENDIX' 



Part IV 

THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS* FOLLOWERS 

XXIV. The Social Life of the Early Christian Communities. 
1. How do you explain the fact that Jesus' sudden death did not per- 
manently daunt his followers? 2. What influenced them to rally at 
Jerusalem? 3. In what ways was their organisation democratic? 
4. Picture a typical day in the life of one of the members of the Jeru- 
salem community. 5. What is the evidence for or against the con- 
clusion that they lived on a communistic basis? 6. Why did they at- 
tract new recruits to their ranks? 7. In what ways did the bitter 
persecution that followed the martyrdom of Stephen prove a valuable 
factor in extending the kingdom of God throughout the Roman Em- 
pire? Cf. Acts 8 1 " 8 , ll 19 ' 24 . 8. For what reasons does the life of 
the early Christian communities in Jerusalem and Antioch possess es- 
pecial interest and significance ? 9. How far throughout the world had 
the brotherhood which Jesus established at Capernaum extended by 
the end of the first half -century ? Cf. Kent, Historical Bible, VI: 
The Work and Teachings of the Apostles, pp. 244, 245. 

XXV. Paul's Social and Economic Teachings. 1. What evidence 
is there that Paul was intensely interested in social questions ? 2. What 
opportunities did he have to become familiar with Jesus' social teach- 
ings ? 3. How far are his teachings regarding marriage valid ? 4. Com- 
pare his teachings regarding divorce with (1) those of the Deuteronomic 
lawgivers and (2) with those of Jesus. 5. In what ways did Paul's 
teachings tend to exalt the status of woman? 6. What contributions 
did he make to the solution of the domestic servant problem ? 7. Com- 
pare his economic teachings with those of Jesus. 8. What methods did 
he employ to develop the habit of generous giving? 9. With what 
results ? 10. How may his methods be practically applied to-day in 
training the young in habits of intelligent giving ? 

XXVI. Paul's Ideal of Christian Citizenship. 1. Compare the 
personal characteristics and training of Jesus and Paul. 2. Their point 
of view and social aims. 3. What qualities did Paul declare were 
essential in a Christian citizen ? 4. Paraphrase in your own words hi3 
immortal hymn in praise of love. 5. Did Paul give love the pre- 
eminent place under the influence of Jesus' teachings or as a result of 
his own practical experience? 6. How far are Paul's teachings re- 
garding a citizen's duty to the state valid to-day in a democracy? 
7. Formulate in universal terms the rules that he laid down for the 



APPENDIX 359 

guidance of Christian citizens in their relations with one another. 
8. Do they apply to-day simply to a man's relations to the members of 
his church or to all his social relations? 9. How does Paul expand 
Jesus' command to love one's enemies? 10. Compare Jesus' teaching 
regarding the kingdom of God and Paul's regarding the body of Christ. 
11. In what respects do Paul's teachings regarding the body of Christ 
represent the logical culmination of the social teachings of the prophets 
and Jesus ? 

XXVII. The Adoption of Jesus' Social Principles during the First 
Christian Century. 1. What influences hindered the free working of 
Jesus' social leaven during the first Christian century ? 2. What were 
the effects of the persecutions of Nero and of Domitian? 3. What 
principles does the author of I Peter lay down for the guidance of hus- 
bands and wives? 4. For the guidance of Christian citizens? 5. How 
far is the stern arraignment in James 2 1-9 applicable to individual Chris- 
tian churches to-day? 6. How complete is the definition of religion 
found in James l 27 ? 7. How far does the stern condemnation of the 
rich by the author of the epistle of James apply to the same classes 
to-day? 8. What is the value from the social point of view of the 
visions in the book of Revelation ? 9. Trace through the teachings of 
Hosea, Jeremiah, Jesus, Paul, and the author of I John the develop- 
ment of the law of love. 10. What social virtues did the early Chris- 
tians, as described by Aristides, possess that are no longer promi- 
nent in modern Christianity? 

XXVIII. The Application of the Social Teachings of the Prophets 
and Jesus. 1. What influences combined in the second and following 
centuries to lead the world to ignore the social teachings of the prophets 
and Jesus? 2. In what ways did the Protestant Reformation con- 
tribute to and in what ways did it defer the rediscovery of these teach- 
ings? 3. What elements in Jesus' social gospel did the Puritans ac- 
cept and what did they ignore? 4. How has the modern historical 
and literary study of the Bible contributed to the rediscovery and eval- 
uation of these teachings? 5. Analyse the causes of the new social 
awakening. 6. What do Socialism and Christianity share in common ? 
7. In what respects do their methods differ fundamentally? 8. Com- 
pare the results wherever either one or the other has been practically 
tried. 9. Picture in imagination what would be the effects if (1) So- 
cialism or (2) Christianity should suddenly be accepted and applied in 
America or Europe. 10. What are the causes that have contributed 
to the breakdown of the modern family? 11. What can the principles 
laid down by the prophets and Jesus do to rehabilitate it? 12. What 



360 APPENDIX 

evidence is there that these principles are rapidly revolutionising the 
spirit and methods in force in the business world? 13. How do you 
explain this fact ? 14. In what lines is there still great need of further 
progress ? 15. Why is organised labour often antagonistic to organised 
Christianity? 16. What would be the effect upon the world mission- 
ary movement if all the commercial agencies of Christian nations were 
governed by the social principles of the prophets and Jesus? 17. Is 
the Christian church more or less Christian than it was in the first cen- 
tury? 18. If Jesus were living to-day, would he enthusiastically sup- 
port all the aims and agencies of your local church or would he silently 
condemn a part of its activity even as he did that of the Jewish church 
of his day? 19. In what practical ways can a follower of the prophets 
and Jesus work whole-heartedly to render the church more efficient? 
20. Why do the present divisions of the Christian church paralyse its 
authority and efficiency? 21. On what common basis could the Prot- 
estant, the Greek and the Roman Catholic churches unite, and what 
would be the effect on human civilisation ? 22. Why is the Interna- 
tional Christian Association movement in many ways the most potent 
religious agency in the world ? 23. What would be the effect on inter- 
national relations if all the statesmen of the Christian nations for one 
week absolutely told the truth ? 24. Is the theory that the economic 
surplus of human production will, whenever it reaches a certain level, 
be dissipated in war absolute and forever valid? 25. Is it possible 
and even probable that, having tried out war to the uttermost as a 
means of settling international differences, humanity may now give 
the principles of the prophets and Jesus a thorough trial? Give the 
reasons for your conclusion. 



CLASSIFIED INDEX 

I. THE FAMILY 

1. Rights and Duties of Husbands: 

Genesis 2, 27, 28; Hosea, 50-52; Deuteronomy, 90; Proverbs, 
142; Jesus, 242-246; Paul, 293-295; I Peter, 318. 

2. Rights and Duties of Wives: 

Genesis 2, 28; Amos, 46; Hosea, 50-52; Deuteronomy, 90; 
Proverbs, 142-144; Jesus, 243-245; Paid, 293-295 ; I Peter, 
317, 318. 

3. Rights and Duties of Parents: 

Hosea, 52; Deuteronomy, 91; Proverbs, 144-146; Paul, 295, 
296. 

4. Rights and Duties of Children: 

Deuteronomy, 91, 92; Proverbs, 146, 147; Jesus, 246, 247; 
Paul, 295. 

5. Rights and Duties of Masters: 

Abraham, 35; Deuteronomy, 92, 93; Proverbs, 147, 148; Ben 
Sira, 148; Job 31, 162; Jesus, 247-250; Paul, 296-298. 

6. Rights and Duties of Servants: 

Abraham's servant, 35, 36; Deuteronomy, 92, 93; Proverbs, 
148; Jesus, 247-250; Paul, 296-298; I Peter, 319. 

7. Education in the Home: 

Deuteronomy, 91; Proverbs, 144, 145. 

II. THE STATE 

1. Theories of Social Organization: 

(1) Despotic: Ramses II, 5-7, 11; Canaanites, 15-18; Solomon, 
19, 20; Rehoboam, 21, 22; Ahab, 23, 24. 

(2) Democratic: Israel's inherited ideals, 13-18; Moses, 12; 
Ahijah, 20-22; Elijah, 22-25; Isaiah 32 1 " 5 , 114-115; John 
the Baptist, 173; Jesus, 254, 255. 

(3) The Rule or Kingdom of God: Isaiah, 67-69; Micah 4 1 " 4 , 
121, 122; Isaiah 19 21 " 25 , 122, 123; Psalm 96, 123, 124; Psalm 

361 



362 CLASSIFIED INDEX 

2227-30, 124; John the Baptist, 171-173; Pharisees, 268, 269; 
Jesus, 251, 267-280; Acts, 284-289; Paul, 312-315; Reve- 
lation, 323 ; Aristides, 326 . 

2. The State in Its Relation to Other States : 

(1) Right and Duty of Making War: Nahum, 78-80; Deuter- 
onomy, 104; Jesus, 263-266. 

(2) The Fraternal and Missionary Attitude: Genesis 10, 34, 35; 
Amos, 46, 47; Isaiah ll 1 " 10 , 114; Zechariah, 120, 121 ; Micah 
4 1 " 4 , 121, 122; Second Isaiah, 122, 133, 134; Isaiah 19 21 " 25 , 
123; Jonah, 125, 126; Jesus, 265, 266; The Primitive Chris- 
tian Community, 284. 

3. Right and Limitation of Taxation: 

Solomon, 19, 20; Ahijah, 20, 21, 24; Jesus, 259, 260 ; Paul, 308. 

4. Rights and Duties of Rulers: 

Israel's Inherited Ideals, 16; Canaanites, 16-18; Solomon, 18, 
19; Ahijah, 20-22; Elijah, 22-25; Amos, 43, 44; Isaiah, 61- 
65, 68, 69; Micah, 71, 72; Zephaniah, 83, 84; Jeremiah, 84, 
85; Deuteronomy, 93, 94; Psalm 72, 109, 110; Isaiah 9 2 ' 7 , 
ll 1 - 10 , 110-114; Isaiah 32^, 114; Psalm 101, 115, 116; 
Proverbs, 148, 149; Jesus, 255-258. 

5. Duties of Citizens to the State: 

Ahijah and Elijah, 24, 25; Proverbs, 149; Jesus, 259, 260; 
Paul, 307, 308. 

6. Treatment of Criminals: 

Genesis 4 1 " 16 % 31-33; Jesus, 260-263. 

7. Duties of Judges: 

Amos, 45; Isaiah, 63; Deuteronomy, 94; Proverbs, 149. 

8. Duties of Witnesses : 

Deuteronomy, 95 ; Proverbs, 150. 

9. Duties of Parties to a Suit: 

Deuteronomy, 95; Proverbs, 150, 151; Jesus, 205; Paul, 310. 
10. Public Education in Religion and Morals: 

Hosea, 59; Micah, 73, 74; Jeremiah, 85, 86; Deuteronomy, 95, 
96. 

III. OWNERSHIP, PRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 

OF WEALTH 

1. Ownership of Land and Natural Resources: 

Isaiah, 63, 64; Deuteronomy, 96; Jesus, 234. 



CLASSIFIED INDEX 363 

2. Responsibilities and Use of Wealth: 

Amos, 45, 46; Isaiah, 62-64; Micah, 72, 73; Zephaniah, 86; 
Jeremiah, 86, 87; Proverbs, 151-153; Job 31, 163, 164; 
Jesus, 225-234, 239, 240; Early ^Christians, 287-289; Paul, 
298-301 ; James, 321, 322. 

3. Regulation of Crimes Against Property: 

Hosea, 53 ; Micah, 71. 

4. Rights and Duties of Employers of Labour: 

Ramses II, 5-7, 11 ; Amos, 45, 46; Zephaniah, 84; Deuteron- 
omy, 96, 97; Jesus, 234-238, 240. 

5. Rights and Duties of Industrial Labourers: 

Moses, 11; Deuteronomy, 96, 97; Jesus, 234-238, 240. 

6. Prevention of Poverty: 

Deuteronomy, 97-101; Proverbs, 152, 153; Jesus, 238-240. 

7. Alleviation of Poverty: 

Deuteronomy, 101, 102; Job 31, 162; Jesus, 238. 



IV. THE SOCIALISED INDIVIDUAL 

1. A Man's Duties to Himself as a Member of Society: 

Esau, 36; Jacob, 37; Joseph, 37, 38; Amos, 42; Hosea, 52, 53; 
Isaiah, 64, 65; Proverbs, 154, 155; Psalm 24 3 " 6 , 158; Job 31, 
161; Hillel, 167, 168; Jesus, 193-195, 198-208, 213-221, 
272; Paul, 303-306. 

2. Man's Duties to His Fellow Men: 

Cain, 32; Abraham, 35, 36; Jacob, 36, 37; Joseph, 37, 38; 
Amos, 47, 48; Hosea, 52, 53; Deuteronomy, 102, 103; Sec- 
ond Isaiah, 133-137; Isaiah 58 1 - 10 , 139; Proverbs, 156-158; 
Psalm 15, 159; Job 29 11 " 17 , 159, 160; Job 31, 160-164; Hillel, 
168, 169; John the Baptist, 170, 171; Jesus, 183-185, 191, 
192, 202-211, 216, 221-223, 263, 264; Paul, 303-312; James, 
319-321 ; I Peter, 320 ; I John, 324 ; Aristides, 325, 326. 

3. A Man's Duties to Resident Aliens and Foreigners: 

Abraham, 35; Deuteronomy, 118; Leviticus 24 22 , 118; Num- 
bers 15 14 ' 15 , 119; Nehemiah, 120; Zechariah, 120; Isaiah 
56 1 " 8 , 120, 121; Job 31, 164. 

4. A Man's Conception of God as a Social Being: 

Genesis 2, 27, 29; Genesis 65-7 1 , 33, 34; Amos, 42, 46, 47; 
Hosea, 54-59; Isaiah, 61, 67-69; Second Isaiah, 128-132; 
Hillel, 167; Jesus, 184. 271, 272, 277; Paul, 307. 



364 CLASSIFIED INDEX 

5. A Man's Attitude and Duties toward God: 

Genesis 2 4b -3 25 , 27, 29-31; Abraham, 35; Hosea, 55, 58, 59; 
Isaiah, 65, 66; Micah, 76, 77; Deuteronomy, 103; Second 
Isaiah, 129-132, 136; Isaiah 58 1 " 10 , 139, 140; Hillel, 167; 
Jesus, 194, 231, 233; 271-275; Paul, 305,307; James, 316, 
317. 



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